When your way is the only way
by HoshisamaValmor
Summary: Klaus' nightmares become a nuisance to his siblings and Sir Reginald deals with them in his typical way - doing more damage than the one already done. (Pre-canon)
1. The night

Author's Note: A whimstical fic to explore an incident I mentioned on chapter 5 of my fic "The (Seven) Ways People See You". Title comes from Darkest Hour song _'Wound'_ which has also already named another TUA fic I did (I just really love this song ok), and that reads_ "When your way is the only way, you can't look at yourself and say 'I was wrong' "._ This may already paint a little picture, but let me say it regardless: This is not a nice or kind fic to Klaus, or any other sibling witnessing it for that matter, and the fact that it takes place when the kids are 13 adds to the unease.

Warning: This whole fic has quite serious psychological abuse and emotional neglect against children, which I personally find quite disturbing.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own The Umbrella Academy.

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_11 January 2002_

_1:33 AM_

_._

Vanya

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The screams made her jump off her sleep, and in her confusion, Vanya couldn't know if she was dreaming or not. Everything was dark and the sound was so loud, so close, so _terryfing_ that Vanya screamed back. And everything around her started to shake.

If no one else had already woken up because of the screams, they certainly did when the mansion began shaking in its foundations. The nightstand fell to the floor with a bang and Vanya stumbled off her bed and ran out of her bedroom, completely lost in the haze of panic and clashing into Klaus on the corridor. The impact made her lose her balance and fall hard on her hands and knees with a yelp while Klaus fell to the floor and crawled back to the opposite wall of his bedroom, near the stairs. He was crying and screaming and covering his ears and cowering around himself.

"No, no, no, no, no! I don't want to, please, no!"

"Klaus?" she said, hissing at the sting of her knees and palms but still trying to approach him.

"What the_ hell_ is going on?!" Diego yelled, his bedroom door flying open as he ran through the corridor to Klaus whimpering and cowering on the floor. He barely looked at Vanya still on all fours and went straight to Klaus, but the two of them only managed to make him scream even louder.

"NO! DON'T! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Vanya pulled her hand back immediately and turned to Diego in worry, her panic and confusion now focused on trying to understand what was wrong and trying to breathe with all that sound numbing her senses and making it impossible.

"What's going on?!" Luther came running from his bedroom too, as did Allison, and Vanya could hear the footsteps on the upper floor as Ben and Five were startled up too. She immediately cowered as well, unable to stop herself from thinking she had messed up somehow, that maybe her startled scream had woken all of them up and feeling her heart jump uncontrollably on her chest.

"You're not gonna help anyone, Luther, go back to bed!" Diego yelled.

"Shut up, Diego! And you too, stop screaming, Klaus!" Luther yelled back.

"Guys, please, stop!"

"What the hell happened?! Klaus? Vanya, what happened?" Allison yelled.

"I don't-"

"For God's sake! It's one in the damn morning!" Five yelled from the top of the stairs, teleporting himself to the corridor the next instant. "Why are you all yelling?!"

"Klaus?! What's wrong?" Ben ran down the stairs after Five and dropped on his knees next to Klaus.

"NO! STOP IT, ALL OF YOU!"

"Guys! We're not helping!"

The uproar was so loud it deafened her and became her heartbeat and she felt she could choke and suddenly she remembered she needed her pills, they would help her breathe, they would calm her down, just like Dad-

"NUMBERS!"

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Diego

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Diego felt a shiver run down his spine as he turned to see Dad walk down the stairs. Five quickly moved out of his way as he turned to the children, fully dressed as if he had just been working on his study rather than sleeping, which was probably the most accurate guess. Diego opened his mouth to try to explain what has happening (even though he had no idea), but Dad didn't give him a chance.

"Number Seven! Your medication!" he commanded at once. "Take it immediately. How many times have I told you?!"

"I was just-"

"Now!"

Vanya scrammed to her bedroom, staggering on her way up and loudly rummaging through her stuff in search for her pills. A distinctive rustle of small things hitting plastic told him she had found them, even though Klaus was still sobbing loud enough to almost muffle them. Diego looked down at him again, trying to piece whatever information he could with the little he had: screams that made him jump out of his sleep and feel that the house was shaking (though that had to be his stunned imagination), a sound of clashing in the corridor and then Klaus crying and wheezing and Vanya sprawled on the floor, making it harder to be fully sure which one of them had started the chaos as clearly they had both been the firsts to react to it. But his gut just told him who had actually been the source.

"Klaus?" he tried again, resuming Ben's place at calling his name. He was just as unsuccessful in getting his attention, which made him grit his teeth and whisper more harshly. "Klaus! Pull it together!"

Klaus sniffed but didn't move, still curled up like a little kid, his hair in a mess over the hands he had wrapped around his ears. At least he wasn't screaming anymore, but his face was covered in tears and snot.

Vanya returned to the corridor, standing absolutely still at the door of her bedroom as if she had been the one to do something wrong and was awaiting her rebuke. Her chest was no longer rising and dropping like she was about to have a heart attack, but she was still pale. Diego squinted at her, but then moved his attention to Dad. He didn't so much look at Klaus until after Vanya had put her medication bottle on her jammies' pocket, making it clear she had done what she was told. When Dad finally looked down, it was with such a disdain Diego felt a sting of shame and pity even though he wasn't the target of it.

"What is this, Number Four? Gather yourself."

Klaus was still covering his ears for some reason, as if he wasn't the one that had been making as much of a racket as everyone else, and feebly looked up. He was shaking and his eyes were so red and puffy it made the green look almost shining- no, fluorescent.

"Dad..."

"I said gather yourself at once! You look pitiful."

Diego clenched his jaw and closed his fists so he'd not help - or force - Klaus up because his stupid brother wasn't moving, he was just shaking his head harshly. Diego exchanged looks with Ben, like sharing a silent cue to shove him back up together, grab him by the arms and shake him to wipe those tears away from his face. But Ben didn't move, and Diego didn't move either. He was afraid of what Dad might do or say to _him, _and Klaus was the sole target of that disdainful look right now. It was shameful, but Diego couldn't stand up to Dad.

"What's going on, children?"

Diego snapped his head to the side, feeling a sudden relief fill him.

"Mom."

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Allison

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Allison saw Mom and Pogo approach, both with concerned looks on their faces. Now the entire house was awake and all gathered up around Klaus. Their question was met with no answer but Dad's cold: "Number Four is throwing a tantrum."

"Master Klaus?" Pogo called, and the voice made Klaus move his head alright, and Allison could see how his eyes were so filled to the brim with tears it made her heart pinch. What was wrong with him? All those screams... "Stand up, Master Klaus."

"No. I don't wanna."

"Klaus," she tried too, now that Klaus was at least growing responsive to his name. He turned his face to her; he looked so scared Allison had to hold back the sting of tears she felt in compassion. Before she could say anything else, however, Mom broke through the line of siblings on the other end.

"Klaus?" she called as well, and Klaus' face flew to the other side. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

"Mom-"

"Enough of this," Dad cut in, grabbing Mom by the wrist and pulling her back and away from Klaus. Allison saw how Klaus flinched back and curled himself tighter again.

"Please, I don't wanna."

She eyed her siblings, Vanya standing absolutely still by the door, Diego shutting his fists tightly next to his thighs, Ben no longer crouched next to Klaus but standing up so he wouldn't be in the way of Dad, Five with his arms crossed in front of his chest looking irked. She turned to Luther for guidance or to find some silent answer, but he just seemed tired and annoyed, looking down on Klaus as if he wanted to shake him to his senses. Allison bit her lip and decided to remain silent, lest Dad would get angry at her.

"I... I just... c-can I just-"

"This is enough, Number Four. Go back to your bed, immediately."

"No, Dad, I don't- I don't wanna sleep," Klaus whimpered, sniffing and scrubbing his face. Rather than it actually calm him or help him gather himself together, it only seemed to make him try and fail to hold back a sob as his whole body quivered. "P-Please, Dad..."

Allison bit her lip harder. Although she didn't want to feel it, she did feel a twinge of annoyance too; all that loud ruckus had startled her and made her heart race and now seeing Klaus just refuse to move really did make him look like a little stubborn child, just putting up a show to get attention, but she _knew_ Klaus. He wasn't putting up a tantrum, he was_ terrified._ Question was, what could have possibly have scared him so much to-

_Oh. Damn it._

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Luther

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Luther bit the inside of his cheek. He was still slightly dizzy from sleep, but he was forcing himself to push it away - what if this was a dangerous situation? But no, it was just Klaus being Klaus. All that noise just because he'd woken up and he had to wake up the entire house together with him. None of them dared to move not to bring about Dad's rage, but Luther had enough of this. Klaus was getting his way with getting all the attention and that wasn't right.

"Klaus, stand up," he commanded, but his voice had little to no effect on Klaus, just making him start to shake his head again.

"Klaus..." Allison tried again beside him.

"Klaus, it's one in the morning!" Luther snapped, his disapproval echoing their Dad's. "Go to sleep and let us all-"

"No! No, I don't want to sleep! I don't want to!"

"Klaus, that's not helping," it was Five's turn now to comment.

"I don't want to sleep! I see all of them, I can't sleep!"

"Number Four!" Dad's voice echoed through the corridor and made Klaus shake like a leaf. "I thought we had overcome this. Do you still need more training after all?"

"NO!" Klaus' voice broke and his head jolted up. "N-No, please, Dad, I-"

"Do you see what you are causing to your brothers and sisters?" Dad cut him at once, making Klaus shut his eyes tight and bite back a sob again. "They trained the entire day and you are robbing them of their rest with your tantrum!"

Luther couldn't find a better way to describe it.

"But Dad, I can't-"

"No excuses! You are behaving like a spoiled little child who only thinks of himself!"

Klaus was visibly trying to hold back his tears but it was no use. He started crying again, big and ugly tears that made Luther groan under his breath.

"Everyone, go to your rooms," Dad ordered. "Your morning training will begin at the scheduled hour, not one minute later. You can thank Number Four for your trouble."

"Dad...!"

"Stop being a crybaby, Klaus-" Luther finally moved and grabbed Klaus by the arm but was rewarded with a high pitched scream and a smack to the face that only missed because of his trained reflexes.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Klaus!" Allison stepped forward but was pushed back by Luther, who screwed up his face and grabbed Klaus by the arm again, this time _hard_, this time making sure that he'd have a _reason_ to scream, and shoving him up to his feet.

"STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING ME!" Sure enough, he did scream, and so did the others, and chaos erupted again.

"Let him go, Luther!" That was Diego.

"Way to go, Luther, that's really helping us!" That was Five.

"Luther!" That was Ben.

"Luther!" And Allison.

"Luther! Don't!" And Vanya.

"Boys, please!" that was Mom and Pogo, almost in unison.

"NUMBER FOUR!"

Klaus squirmed his arm harshly and painfully but all he could do was hurt himself more but he didn't stop and Luther didn't let him go until Dad told him to.

"Number One, let go of your brother." Luther obeyed immediately and Klaus stumbled back, holding his bruised arm like a broken limb. At least now he had a reason for those tears. "Number Four, go to your room."

"I will stay with you, Klaus," Mom said with a reassuring smile, and Luther saw the relief in Klaus' face as a physical light that was crushed to pieces when Dad cut in.

"No. Number Four will go to his bed like his siblings, alone, and sleep. Now."

"Dad, please. Please, let Mom stay. I won't- I won't do this anymore, I'm sorry, just let her stay."

"Maybe it's best to just let the crybaby have his way," Luther said. "So long as we can all go to sleep at last."

"Do not make me repeat myself." Dad was unyielding, and Luther didn't want to step out of place after a direct order, so he just shut his fists while Klaus resumed that annoying shaking of his head.

Thankfully, Dad had had enough too. He finally stepped up, and Klaus cowered back against Luther. Dad grabbed him by the injured arm and he let out a whine.

"I said,_ now_, Number Four."

"Dad, no- Dad, you're hurting-" Dad began dragging Klaus back to his bedroom; Pogo and Mom and Five got out of his way. Klaus' whimpered again and Luther's resolve quivered however slightly, frowning at the thought of how much strength he had used. He probably overreacted... Klaus was a skinny boy. He moved his eyes instinctively to Diego and met an expected fury in his, his brother's jaw clenched so tight it looked almost painful.

"You will do as you are told, Number Four." Dad quite literally threw Klaus inside his bedroom. They all heard him stumble against his bed. "Do not disturb your siblings again."

"No, no, no, no..." But Dad threw the door shut and Klaus screamed and hit his hands against the other side. Dad quickly took out a key from his pockets and fitted it in the lock, the metallic sound sending a unwanted chill down Luther's spine and apparently a much worse one on Klaus. "NO! No, no, no, Dad, please, no, don't lock me, please,_ please-_"

"Go to sleep, Number Four," and he turned the key.

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Five

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If Dad's intention had been to shut the sound of Klaus' screams along with the door, he didn't fully know the acoustics of his own mansion. It did muffle them somewhat, but they still echoed to the corridor when Dad commanded them again to go back to their rooms (which Five was the first to reach by teleporting) and they were still hearable even with the floor and walls adding blocking layers. As the house slowly fell back to its intended silence at 2AM, the smothered screams sounded like a constant and honestly unnerving mumble. The longer they stretched out, the clearer the mumble would grow to distinctive words.

Five sighed heavily and turned his back to the door, knowing fully well Klaus' pleading wouldn't diminish by doing that. Dad should've allowed Mom to be with him and at least they'd all be sleeping already. He thought on her expression when Dad left the corridor and climbed back up the stairs. She just stood there, immovable, then blinking and leaving as if she had just remembered she had something cooking in the oven. Five had looked at Pogo too; he looked pained, deeply so, but he didn't raise his voice or so much as open his mouth and just turned around and left too.

Five heard a series of thuds downstairs. Klaus was banging his hands against the door.

He sighed loudly and turned his body back up. Jesus, this wasn't working.

Five knew about Klaus' stay in the mausoleum. One way or another, they all knew by now. So he could take an educated guess at what had happened: Klaus had a nightmare. Klaus being Klaus, he had a _serious_ reaction. Although Five could find at least some reasoning for that, it didn't really help him feel less annoyed that it was past 2AM and he was forced to be awake because his brother was stubborn and his Dad was unyielding. His persistency did borderline the tantrum now, though Five couldn't deny he sounded too terrified for it to be an act. But what good was it doing him to keep screaming? Was it keeping the nightmares away or something? It was giving_ him_ nightmares.

Speaking of which. Five had woken up with a jump and his heart on his throat because he felt his bed and the floor shaking under him. Literally _shaking_. Obviously, it was impossible, but Klaus' screaming had clearly been starling enough for Five to have that impression. The ones still going on down there were proof that, for all his best efforts, Klaus wasn't yet able to make things move with his mind or he'd have already burst that door down by now.

When the low thumping returned, Five shoved his pillow over his head. A desperate last resort, but it seemed to work a bit.

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Ben

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He was sure Klaus wasn't just banging his hands against the door. He couldn't, not with all that noise.

Ben shut his eyes tightly and covered his ears, feeling the shameful tears fall down his face and feeling even worse for that. He was quite literally a mirror image of Klaus right now, but no one was there to see him and accuse him and belittle him for it, so Ben was priviledged in his suffering. Klaus had been desperate and it only caused him more pain.

And it caused Ben more pain, too.

The moment he had woken up with the screams, he had known it was Klaus, and he had known exactly what it was.

_"Come on, Klaus, don't think about it. If you're already dreading before it even happens, you'll just bring it upon yourself."_

_"But I'm scared, Ben. How can I stop myself from dreaming with it if I already think about it when I'm awake?"_

_"So keeping yourself awake is better?"_

_"I'm scared to sleep!"_

_"Have you already dreamed with it?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"And how bad was it?"_

_"Bad. It was really, really bad, and I put up with it alone but I can't, Ben, I can't. I can't fight it, I'm-"_

_"Listen. The next time you have a nightmare, come to my room, alright? I'll do my best to help you through with it, okay?"_

And when he did have one, not only was Ben the last to reach him, he was the most useless. How good of a brother was he when he _knew_ how much Klaus was suffering and he still didn't do a damn thing?

He couldn't tell him the ghosts weren't real, because they were. He couldn't tell him it'd be alright, because it wouldn't. Klaus might have had a nightmare, but the source of it was real and the ghosts would still continue to haunt him because he could not_ not_ see them. It wasn't a priviledge he had. The only thing he could try to do was tell him to accept it, and clearly, it wasn't working.

He couldn't tell their Dad to not do that to Klaus because he was Dad and Dad was always right... even when he wasn't. The monsters were real for Ben too - just different. Dad had trained Ben to face them too, and it... worked. He had trained Klaus to deal with his own the same way, and it didn't work, which didn't mean Klaus was weak or useless, it just meant the method was wrong for _him_. But he couldn't say that to Dad, he couldn't be there for Klaus, he couldn't do a damn thing except crying and trying to muffle his brother's screams by covering his ears.

And they said Klaus was the one putting up a tantrum.

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Klaus

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He didn't know how he could still be crying, but crying he was. His throat was ragged and he could barely breathe, having started a coughing fit minutes ago that managed to interrupt his pleading if only for the moment his body forced him to shake so much he was sure he was going to be sick. His head was throbbing with a constant pain for what seemed like hours now, but he had no idea how long it had actually been, he was just sure his skull had to be split open for that amount of pain to be real.

When he had given up banging his fists against the door, he threw his back against it and when he had given up on that too, he slided down it to the floor. That had been when he started coughing and it had stopped him from hitting or screaming. Then he bang the back of his head against the door and it still didn't help, not with the door and certainly not with the pain.

He knew the door wasn't going to open. He knew Dad wasn't coming. All he wanted was to sleep, and he _couldn't_.

Klaus had already half-realized that there were no ghosts in his room, but he was still too scared to open his eyes for longer than a second. The darkness behind his eyelids didn't make it better though, because he was locked, he couldn't get out, because he was back, because he was back where they were and _now_ they were here and he was_ so_ tired-

"DAD! PLEASE! PLEASE LET ME OUT!" Klaus screamed louder after that and hit his hands and feet against the floor to do _something_,_ anything_, but he was just a baby making a tantrum, wasn't that what they said? And they were right, so he screamed again even if he could barely do it anymore, even if he started to cough so viciously he had to physically hold his chest so he wouldn't break apart.

He so tired. He was so _tired _a part of him was expecting him to just pass out and face the night that way but somehow he was still awake and conscious and hurting. His arm was hurting so much, the throbbing in his head exchanged turns with the one in his arm and cradling it didn't help. His nose was so clogged he couldn't breathe and the sleeves of his pajamas had grown stiff with dried tears and snot but the ones in his eyes didn't dry even if his eyes were pinching and hurting too.

"I'm sorry..." His broken and ragged voice forced him down to low begging. He didn't really know what he was apologizing for. For screaming, for waking up his siblings, for being unable to sleep, for being scared, for being weak, for being a spoiled little child, for just being. "I'm sorry... Dad, please..."

There was no sound on the other side of the door, and Klaus' coughing and wailing was the only thing he could hear for some minutes. Then suddenly, a key was pushed into the lock and Klaus jumped back, so stunned and numb for the hour-worth of crying and hurting that he was unable to feel that sound as the salvation he longed for, instead fearing it to be even worse punishment for it all. Dad wouldn't yield, he wouldn't return, not unless he was angry, not unless he was _very_ angry and-

It wasn't Dad.

"Mom!" he wanted to scream, but his voice was too ragged. He wanted to smile, but the sight of Mom entering and closing the door behind her was so... so everything that he broke down again. He threw himself against her legs and held her tighter and tighter as he sobbed harder and harder.

"I'm here, Klaus."

"M-Mom, I'm-I'm sorry, I'm sorry I woke you, I'm sorry I woke everyone, I didn't- I didn't want to, I just..."

Mom shushed him, gently fondling his hair.

"I know, sweetie. I know."

"I-I can't, I can't sleep... I'm so scared, Mom, I'm so-"

"Shh... Come here." Mom bent over slightly and encouraged him slowly to let her legs go, kneeling down at his height and giving a gentle smile as she soothed his hair and the sides of his face, waiting for Klaus to sob and cough, his heart finally slowly down and letting him catch his breath. She kept grounding him with her touch. "It's alright. It's alright."

Klaus threw himself at her, hugging her so tight it hurt him.

"I don't want to sleep, Mom. Please, don't make me..."

"You need to sleep, Klaus."

"B-But they... Mom, I see them, the ghosts-"

"Are there any ghosts here now?" she asked him, and Klaus' lip trembled as he still wavered his eyes around, shaking his head weakly against Mom's. "I will stay here with you even if they aren't, okay? Let's put you to bed, sweetie. You must be exhausted."

Klaus coughed harshly as Mom slowly unclasped his arms from around her. He tried to dry some of the tears and snot with a shaky hand, but Mom held it in hers and lifted a handkerchief instead.

"You don't want to have your sleeves all dirty, do you?" she said playfully, blinking in the next moment. "You are drenched in sweat, dear. Let me help you with a bath-"

Klaus shook his head. "Can I take one tomorrow? Please?"

The sound of the last word seemed to make her face quiver with hurt.

"Of course, Klaus. Let's at least change your clothes, alright?"

Klaus nodded and grabbed Mom's hand as she helped him stand up. While he forced himself to shrug off his jammies and put on new ones, Mom comfied the bedsheets after deciding they were dry enough for him to sleep in. Although she patted his pillow, she sat down right next to it and Klaus didn't think twice and sank himself on the bed with his head on her lap. Mom pulled the covers over him and tucked him before starting to fondle his hair again softly. Klaus sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve anyway, but Mom didn't say anything against it.

"Don't be scared, Klaus. I'm here. I'll help you fight your fears tonight, okay?" Klaus didn't answer her. She continued anyway. "You'll feel better tommorow, sweetie. And then you'll see. You'll be able to fight them alone soon, I know it."

He was so exhausted from lack of sleep and crying that he fell asleep on Mom's lap in less than five minutes.

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to be continued

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Author's Note: Let's just say this. Writing this chapter listening to DSBM was an experience.

Thanks for reading.

Next chapter: The morning after and its consequences.


	2. The morning after

Author's Note: On this chapter: Reginald's A+ parenting proving its uneffectiveness.

Thanks for the loads of kudos! I can't mention all of you but I can give a particular shoutout to the reviewers and favs/bookmarkers EverythinggStayss, erindickens802, Yomu, Wisteria115, SpadesQueen, Veera2, Skeleton-Lady, antonia147, JacksNervesOfSteel and OreoUnicorn103. Man you are too many! And a special mention to shinotomosuke2

Sorry for the time it took me. I hope you like the chapter. It's quite a bit longer than I hoped it would.

Let's keep in mind that they're all kids just entering adolescence. None of them is exactly as they are at 29. Let's also keep in mind that Sir Reginald is a bad bad parent. And a hypocrit.

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_12 January 2002_

_7:00 AM_

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Klaus

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Klaus was woken up by Mom's cheerful voice and not-so-cheerful bell ringing. Sure enough, the day seemed to be determined to go on about normally just like Dad had said it would.

He was absolutely exhausted. He probably needed eighteen hours of rest, though he wouldn't mind sleeping a week if he could. His head wasn't throbbing anymore, which was a blessing, but it had been left with a sinking feeling that made it really hard for his neck to lift it up. His nose was pretty roughed up and sensitive from all the scrubbing he had done against his sleeve, and he had a small puddle of slobber on his pillow thanks to all the clogging. Worst of all was his arm. He knew it wasn't broken, but it was so sore it felt like he had a cramp on his muscles, which didn't help as he tried to rub his stinging and puffy eyes to push sleep away. Klaus unbottoned his pajama's shirt and pulled his shoulder out carefully to peek at the top of his arm. Yeah. That was a huge bruise.

"Dickhead," he complained to no one.

Klaus waited for Mom to come call him again before sighing and leaving his warm bed. He looked at it with a sorrowful look, already dreading the night before it even came.

Everything went out just as normally as Dad wanted it. The same morning struggling for time in the bathroom, the same silence during breakfast, the same whispered prayer from an old man that had been coming by for some days and to whom Klaus refused to look at, closing his eyes and hoping he'd go away. The same routine walk to begin training. Even Mom's morning greeting was the same, though she did kiss him on the forehead and Klaus felt her smile was a bit warmer than usual.

Overall, despite some small signals on some of his siblings - mostly more yawning than usual (except for Ben - Ben had all the signals and Klaus was getting nearly constipated by proxy with all that internal turmoil clearly going on with his brother, so he did his best to reassure him with nods and small smiles for the time being) - it looked as if everything was alright. Diego was probably a bit more bitter than usual, maybe. Five more bitchy than usual. Pogo seemed a bit kinder in his short answers. But Dad was acting completely normal as if absolutely nothing out of ordinary had happened the night before, though on that one case he shouldn't really be surprised at all. So Klaus played along too. He was too tired to do otherwise. He dug up strength from somewhere - probably acceptance more than anything - and did just like his father wanted. Made snarky comments when Five beated every single one of them in training. Encouraged Allison to aim for Diego's shin and encouraged Diego to do the same, which made them both clash and sprawl together on the floor. Got a scoff out of Luther when he complained about his arm not helping him. Hoped he was just daydreaming of a voice instead of actually hearing it.

Dad didn't so much as look at him.

It was even more tiresome to pretend like that. Ben was still frowning and worried and, in reality, so was Klaus. But everyone wanted to act normal, so he had to do it too or he'd be yelled at and called a crybaby again.

It was really _not_ alright. And it didn't really work.

Dad still didn't look at him anyway.

Thankfully (or not) it didn't last too long. It was until he saw Vanya take her pills before lunch time.

So he had an idea.

Klaus being Klaus, it wasn't a good one.

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Luther

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Luther inhaled sharply as he saw Diego waiting in the corridor with his back leaned against the wall and arms crossed. Knowing what was coming, he walked right past him. The irritated snarl he got almost served as a small satisfaction.

"How's your day going, Number One?" Diego provoked.

"Don't call me by my number," Luther commanded him. Diego's scoff annoyed him a lot and Luther turned back at him. "What do you want, Diego?"

"Yeah, let's all pretend everything's alright," he said. "It's much easier to just look on the surface and act as if stuff will just disappear if we don't think about it much, right?"

Luther shrugged. "I didn't see Klaus acting up. Well, not differently from usual. Did you?"

"You were an asshole," Diego cut him, straightening himself and uncrossing his arms. "You had no right to just roughen him up like that."

"I just grabbed his arm," Luther countered, though he felt that pinch of guilt in his chest again from remembering how Klaus whimpered when Dad dragged him.

"You were an _asshole_. I saw you use your strength."

If he'd used all his strength, he'd have teared Klaus' arm off. "He tried to hit me, didn't he?"

"You know fully well Klaus can't fight against you. You just hurt him because you wanted to."

"Tell me you didn't want to do the same thing," Luther said to provoke him, but it was true and they both knew it and so Diego was forced to bite back his words. His face grew warmer.

"I didn't."

"No, you didn't. You didn't because you were scared of Dad," he accused, and now Diego was really getting mad.

"And you just wanted to show off. You hurt him just because you could!"

"You wanted to do it too!"

"_I_ wanted to _help_ him so Dad wouldn't be mad at him," Diego snarled, lowering his voice just a bit not to attract too much attention. "You just wanted the problem gone so you could please Dad and go back to bed."

Luther bit the inside of his cheek but stood his ground. "Well it worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, maybe for you and for Allison in your little corner, but me? Hell, Vanya even more than me, _we_ had to listen to him crying for almost an_ hour_ before Mom finally calmed him down."

"You think we didn't hear him too? He wasn't exactly being quiet," Luther replied, knowing that wasn't Diego's point but not wanting to give in. "We can't let Klaus have his way. He just wants attention because his powers aren't as good as ours. We don't have to put up with that. We're thirteen, we're not children anymore."

Diego was increasingly increduluous. "Did he seem like he was acting up to you? Seriously?"

"Overreacting. Yes." Luther clenched his jaw when Diego scoffed and shut his fists. "So he had a nightmare. We all have nightmares sometimes. None of us makes a fullout panic out of it."

"Then that means he needs something to help him rather than just be shoved aside because he's troublesome or just act like things are alright."

"So you're saying Dad's wrong?" Luther dared him just to see how far he'd go, though he was shutting his fists slowly.

"I... I- y-y-yeah. I do."

"Good job there, Diego." Luther knew that was a low blow, but it was just as valid. Diego wanted a fight, so every punch mattered. "Like you said, you didn't do anything. You were too coward to do anything."

He counted a second before Diego jumped at him. It was still a moment longer than Luther thought it'd be, so he was more than ready. Diego went for a swing at his head and Luther ducked, trying to punch him on his ribs but being blocked before he could. Diego snarled and aimed a kick to the groin that Luther deflected too, but earned a headbutt as a reward.

"Guys!"

.

Allison

.

"What happened this time?" she asked, wanting to just smack them both on the head before getting any unecessary answer. They were always fighting, seriously, it was annoying. "Luther! Diego, stop!"

They didn't really hear her. They slowed down somewhat, but Diego used the break of seemingly dropping the fight to throw a fist to Luther's face and this time the hit landed. Luther staggered back and snarled before charging against Diego, picking him up by the waist and throwing him against the wall.

"Guys! Stop it! I'm not going to let you just behave like stupid children."

"Well tell that to Luther!" Diego complained, hitting Luther's back with his fists and elbows to free himself. Luther did let him go, not because the hits though, only because he stood up straight and headbutted Diego hard. He groaned loudly and threw his hands to his face, right above his eye. "You son of a-!"

"Diego! Luther, stop it!" Allison yelled even before seeing blood running from Diego's eyebrow. Luther was bleeding already from his lip too. "Look at yourselves, you idiots!"

"He's the one that started it!"

"It was you, you asshole!"

Allison stomped her feet against the floor when those two idiots threw themselves at each other again and decided she wasn't going to put it up with it.

"_I heard a rumor ..._"

"Allison, don't!"

"_...that you stopped-_"

"Number Three."

Allison gasped and jumped on her feet. Dad was standing just behind her. With all the commotion, she didn't even hear him.

"Dad..." she started, her heartbeat so loud in her ears it was suddenly hard to think. "I was just-"

"Do not use your powers on your siblings ever again."

"I'm sorry-" she tried, but Dad didn't really bother to let her speak before turning to Luther and Diego.

"You two. You will skip meal time."

"But Dad, he was the one-" they said pretty much at the same time, pointing fingers at each other.

"Go to Grace and have her see those cuts. Now." He waited impatiently for the two boys to exchange glares. "I swear, I don't understand what's going on with all of you. It seems like you are all deciding to be a band of brainless buffoons rather than rational and responsible creatures."

It was probably puberty. But that was something Dad wouldn't likely take as a justification.

The boys started moving while Dad continued in the direction he was originally headed. Allison followed suit after her brothers, her head lowered and biting her lip.

"You were gonna use your power on me?" Luther asked with his voice down. Diego scoffed quite loudly.

"I just wanted you two to stop fighting," Allison replied, looking at Diego, who casted a bitter look at both of them.

"So you think I started it?"

"It doesn't matter who did, I was going to end it."

"You didn't have to meddle," Diego complained. "Much less trying to use your power."

"Well, I didn't use it, so you two can stop whining. At least it worked, didn't it?" she said with a shrug, and Diego scoffed in such a disdainful way it confused her.

"You two spend way too much time together," he whispered before approaching Mom, who was standing in the dining room and starting to set the table together with Vanya.

"Oh, boys!" she said as soon as she laid eyes on them. She waved her head and smiled softly. "What happened to you two? Don't tell me you've been fighting again."

"Of course," Allison replied instead of them.

"Let's take a look at that," she raised her hands to attend to Diego first, frowning a bit. "Oh, children. Come along now, we'll get you better fast so you can come have your lunch."

"Actually, we're grounded," Luther replied. The sullen look made him look like a big blond baby. "We can't have lunch."

"Oh. Well, then..."

"Don't worry Mom, we'll help set the table," Allison offered at once. Vanya nodded too.

"I'll help," Klaus said as well, coming from another door to join them. He blinked as he looked at Diego and Luther and their bloodied faces. "Wow. What happened to you two?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

"What do you think?" Allison answered instead not too covertly while Mom took them with her to the corridor.

"Ah," Klaus sent them another look before turning towards the smaller kitchen to pick up where Mom and Vanya had left off. "Luther's fan club continues to grow, I see."

"Klaus," she called firmly.

"Don't even try to go and defend big brother One, he can do that just fine," Klaus replied, not without a big chunk of dry irony that made Allison roll her eyes before she recalled that last night had been... well, just last night. It almost seemed it had been a while already.

"You know how Luther is," she started.

"Uh-huh."

"You know he didn't mean..."

"Uh-huh" he repeated.

"You can't be mad at him. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No, of course not. I'm a strong superhero like all of you, right, sis?"

"I mean... I haven't talked to you yet. You had a-"

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

Allison bit her lip and turned her eyes to Vanya, who seemed almost startled as if she had been caught evesdropping their conversation and quickly turned to the kitchenware she and Mom had started to prepare. Klaus glided towards her and picked up a tray with food before she could.

"Oh, Vanya, my favorite non-superhero sister, let me help you with that."

"Thanks," she said quietly. Allison blinked but decided to ignore the little exchange, stocking up a pile of dishes.

"You're setting the table?" Ben peeked into the kitchen. "Can I help?"

.

Ben

.

After he quickly helped bring a bunch of tableware to the dining room, he tried to catch up to Klaus, but he immediately realized there was something going on. His brother was actively quite dedicated to setting the table for lunch, which, admittedly, wasn't exactly the most telling or suspicious thing in the world, but it was enough to alert Ben, who had spent the entire morning struggling with ways to talk to Klaus and let him know without words how guilty he felt for last night. While Klaus had acted reassuringly even without really needing to, now he seemed aloofed to Ben's concern. He was focused on what he was doing, sure. But that dedication to a trivial task wasn't aloofness. It was intent. Ben knew Klaus well enough to almost physically feel the intent in his actions, and as a result, he felt anxious for not knowing what was going on. He couldn't _just_ want to set the table for the sake of it. For all his virtues, Klaus was far from being the most sensible person out of all of them.

"Klaus."

"You know, you're driving me crazy with that face," he replied over his shoulder without even looking.

"What face?" Ben asked, confused for a moment.

"You've been looking at me like I'm about to break and you're just about to push me to the floor. I'm not," Klaus replied. He lowered his voice mid sentence when he saw Allison return to the kitchen. He grabbed two glasses and sent another reassuring look at Ben before passing by him without saying anything else. While that simple gesture hardly worked to ease Ben during the morning, now it made him frown.

"Klaus," he called again. He saw how Allison looked at him when she passed them; he wondered if she had had any conversation with Klaus about the nightmares. "I've been wanting to say-"

"You don't need to say anything, you didn't do anything wrong," Klaus completed before Ben could, and before he could try to add anything else, his brother had already glided towards the table, quickly setting the glasses he carried so he could readjust some dishes for Vanya to lay down another pot of food. "Sorry, that wasn't helping there."

"It's alright, Klaus, thanks, really."

Klaus gave a quick smile that wavered down when he shivered like he had just got chills out of nowhere. Ben saw him send a look at an empty corner of the dining room and quickly scram back to the kitchen. Ben looked at the empty space, realized what it was and felt a slight chill down his spine, hurrying up to catch up to Klaus.

"Klaus," he tried again.

"Ben, seriously."

"Don't try to tell me everything's just alright, because-"

"I'm alright. See? Haven't I behaved the whole morning?"

"You're _not_ alright," Ben said firmly, not really himself fully knowing where this sudden awareness was coming from. He simply couldn't shake that gut feeling, not to mention that he_ knew_ last night hadn't been easy on Klaus. And if he was seeing or hearing someone just now in the dining room, that might make him snap or something and Ben didn't want to go through all that stress again. "I know you."

"I'm setting the table. Can't I set the table?"

"Of course you can."

"Then let me set the table."

"Klaus," Ben tried again. "You said you'd talk to me if something was wrong."

"But there's nothing wrong. I'm fine."

"I _know_ you. What's going on?"

"Well, I'm going to _be_ fine."

_There_ it was.

"What's going on, Klaus?" he asked, dreading the answer but fearing even more not knowing whatever idea Klaus had and not gauge its consequences before he put it to action. "What are you gonna do?"

Of course, Klaus snorted dismissively. "You sound like I'm about to end the world or something."

"What are you gonna do?" Ben repeated anyway. Nothing Klaus would do would be that harmful, but Ben didn't take out credit in Klaus' ability to make bad decisions... to screw things up, putting it plainly. Expecting more dismissiveness, he tried to make some guesses at what Klaus might be planning.

It wasn't that easy to guess, with the amount of bad possibilities there were. No doubt, whatever it was, it was caused by the previous night. Klaus wasn't really a vengeful person, so it wasn't likely he'd do anything harmful to... Luther? Luther might be a source of rage after that show of strength. Dad... no, there wasn't even a point to think about that, Klaus wasn't vengeful. He was much more prone to harm _himself_ with poor judgement, affecting others as consequence. And poor judgement after yesterday... rash behavior, most likely. Klaus hadn't been particularly rash yet, so he was about to be. Either he was about to show everyone how hurt and scared he was, or he was going to find ways to stop feeling hurt and scared. Lying about it, like he had been doing through the morning, didn't change the facts, whether or not some people probably thought it did.

Ben should have deduced it when he saw Klaus hover around Vanya. He didn't, and he felt like the most stupid person on earth a minute after he heard a loud crash in the kitchen.

.

Vanya

.

Vanya felt the crash of the platter in her very bones. She turned immediately and saw Klaus hopping away from the potatoes that scattered through the floor, hissing in embarrassment.

"Damn," Klaus cursed, looking up at her. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she replied, feeling dumb for her heartbeat having rushed up. Allison and Ben came to the kitchen to see what had happened, and again she felt that irrational sense of blame as if she had done something wrong, or people would assume she did.

"Sorry, I dropped the platter," Klaus replied at once. "You think there's enough food?"

"I think so..." Vanya replied, thinking on the food they had already set on the table. Mom would definitely notice though.

"Can you finish up in the dining room?" Klaus asked Allison and Ben as he picked a broom and started to sweep the mess.

Vanya went to pick another one broom to help him, but her heart was taking a bit too long to settle down and it was annoying her for how unreasonable the startle was. She hadn't been the one to do it and Klaus didn't mean it. It happens, so she shouldn't feel that way. Sighing, she picked up her pill bottle and took one out.

"Hey, Vanya. Can I ask you something?" She looked up as she swallowed. Klaus had a small smile on his face and was losely holding the broom. "What's the name of your pills again?"

Vanya blinked, looking at the bottle. "My pills? It's here, why-"

So simple. So utterly and childishly simple.

She felt as if she had missed a stair step the moment she extended the pill bottle to Klaus. It was like she realized her mistake immediately but her body simply continued to move and Klaus just dropped the broom with another loud crash and snatched the bottle from her hand. Her heart flew up to her mouth and blocked her scream for the full moment Klaus needed to start running.

"No! Klaus!" She hopped over the shards and potatoes and tried to run after him. "Klaus! No, give it back!"

He didn't answer, of course. He was _so_ fast, Vanya had never realized how fast he could run, they always trained more than her but he shouldn't be that fast, and Vanya certainly didn't make for a good pursuer. She could barely catch her breath when she climbed up the stairs and her legs felt like they wanted to turn into jelly but she saw Klaus bang the door of his bedroom shut and she pushed herself forward.

"Klaus, please, Dad will be angry at me!" His door wasn't locked, obviously, so Vanya just turned the knob and stormed inside right on the instant Klaus began coughing and rubbing his chest. Vanya took a terrified second to understand what he had done.

"Jesus Christ, how can you swallow these dry?" he complained, and Vanya's eyes fell to the unmade bed where Klaus had dropped open the bottle and all of her pills were scattered on. She rushed to them and immediately tried to scrub them all in fistsfuls, looking for the orange bottle and finding it on the floor.

"These are my pills, Klaus! You can't take them!"

"Aren't they good for your nerves?" Klaus said with a light tone, though he still coughed again while Vanya dropped to her knees and tried to fit as many pills inside the plastic bottle at once as she could. "I need some for my nerves too."

"You shouldn't have taken them away! Why did you do that?! Why don't you ask Dad to get some for you too?"

The familiar anxiety clawing at her chest didn't let her notice Allison and Ben had followed after them. She barely heard them at the bedroom door, focused on hiding all the pills away fast, and even though she had just taken a pill minutes ago, she poped up another one by reflex.

"Klaus! What did you do?" Ben demanded.

"I can't believe it," Allison rebuked with a palpable fury. The four of them inside the small bedroom turned it into a crowd. "Klaus!"

"Dad's gonna be so mad at me-" Vanya let out in a whisper. This was her only real task, the only real actual command she had: take and keep her pills. It was so simple even an extra ordinary person like her could do it. And she failed it. What if they were bad for Klaus? That didn't make much sense - they were for her nerves, so he was right to assume it'd help him - but what if... he shouldn't take them! "Dad's gonna be so mad at me!"

"What's he gonna do to you?" Klaus said, still rubbing his chest. "He's not gonna punish you with anything."

"Of course he will!"

"Do you plan on telling him?" Klaus cut her. "Cause I don't."

"You _stole_ her pills," Allison accused and Klaus immediately raised his hands.

"I didn't steal anything! I just wanted to see what they were called!"

"Klaus!" Ben had to voice out as Allison shook her head in disapproval and Vanya's mouth gaped as she was just about to say he was lying - he had taken a pill, she knew he had. "You took one, didn't you?"

"No!" he denied promptely and Vanya's small relief for Ben's quick deduction was crushed. "Are you two gonna tell him? I didn't do anything!"

"You stole her pills! Why'd you do that if you didn't want to take them?"

"I just wanted to see! Why is she the only one who gets pills? I need some too."

"So you took one!"

"No!"

"Klaus, apologize to Vanya," Allison demanded, helping Vanya up.

"Sorry, Vanya," he said so automatically and so empty Vanya had to swallow hard. Although her breathing was settling down and she felt her hands much steadier as she hurried up to gather the rest of the scattered pills, she was biting the inside of her cheek and looking at Klaus with a glare. He _knew_ what he had done, and he wasn't going to admit it to Allison and Ben. "Sorry, sorry, okay?"

She was so mad. Klaus was lying, and Vanya shouldn't be the one that had to carry that burden. He lied! He lied about the whole thing, he dropped that platter on purpose to scare her, to make her take her pills out so he could steal them. He lied about it, so what if he kept lying and she was forced to do the same? Or at least pretend it didn't happen? That was lying too. He was shoving that over to her because now she had to lie for him while knowing he had done a wrong thing, or decide to tell the truth and face those consequences... but what consequences did _she_ have to face, anyway? Wasn't telling the truth the good thing? But if she hadn't let him steal from her to begin with-

Her thoughts were cut and turned into a punch to the gut when she turned around and she saw Dad at the door. All color drained from her face and she shoved the pill bottle in her uniform pocket.

"Dad."

She couldn't see Klaus, but she imagined the look on his face. Dad stepped away from the door, commanding them without a single word. They marched outside in absolute silence, and sure enough, she peeked at Klaus by her side and saw he had gone pale too. His gamble didn't last long at all, certainly not as long as he hoped it would. It was almost staggering how all of Vanya's doubts about being confronted with any of this were so fast to be put down.

Dad didn't ask what was going on. He just stood there, looked straight to Vanya's eyes, and even through the two pills clogging up her heart and brain, she still felt a pang of nervousness.

"Did Number Four steal your medication, Number Seven?"

Vanya's eyes dropped and she pinched her hands together. Dad _knew_; he just knew. Had he heard the commotion? Had he guessed, or... how did he just know?

What was the point of even thinking about lying now? It wasn't as if she could lie to Dad to begin with, but... she was so scared. Because telling the truth would prove she had messed up, she let Klaus steal the pills, that's how Dad would feel, and he would be angry with her. She messed up, she couldn't do anything right. So how could she know what was the right thing to do now?

Before she could decide the best and less harmful way to tell the truth, Klaus spoke up. "Dad, I-"

"Silence, Number Four."

"But I stole them," Klaus insisted, making Vanya's breathing fall short. She felt Ben and Allison stiffen too. What was he doing? "It's what I was going to say, I took the pills from her."

"I did not ask you a question, Number Four."

"But I'm _telling_ you-"

"Number Seven, answer me."

Vanya looked at both of them and pinched her hands harder, trying to somehow sooth herself with that pain.

"Yes, Dad. He took the bottle and ran away."

"Did he take any of your pills?"

Vanya swallowed hard even as she saw Klaus moving beside her. "Dad, I'm right here. Why don't you ask me if-"

"Because you lie, Number Four," Dad answered him directly and Vanya felt Klaus waver slightly. Before she could fight against the thought, she realized a part of her was suddenly grateful he had taken one of her pills; they weren't magical pills, but they helped, a lot...

"I don't lie." ...Perhaps a bit too much. Just because it made the problems feel less heavy, those pills didn't make the problems disappear. "It was a joke, I didn't want to steal her pills. It was just a joke."

"Number Seven. Answer me. Did your brother take any of your pills?"

"I didn't," he lied.

"I..." she wasn't a good liar; she couldn't even lie to herself. How could she pretend she didn't know what Klaus had done?" "I-I don't know. I don't think..."

There was a loud snap and Vanya nearly jumped, her eyes wide. Klaus stumbled back and Vanya froze on the spot, unable to move her face to Ben or Allison, stunned at the sight of Klaus with his hands tightly covering his mouth. His breathing got heavy and she literally felt how the tears were rising to his eyes because they certainly were rising on hers.

Dad didn't really hit them. The mere_ threat_ he might was more than enough to make them dread, and yet all of them had had some form of tap on the back of their hands or on their wrists throughout their growing up, warnings to stop doing whatever they might have been doing at the time. Vanya didn't remember ever seeing any of them get slapped.

Dad didn't move for a moment. His hand fell back slowly, which made the moment seem even worst than it already was, giving it no room for questioning or doubting what had just happened. Everything was so quiet it made Klaus' muffled breathing sound terryfing.

"You're grounded, Number Four," Dad said solemnly. "Go to Number One and Two. You will skip meal time too and I will talk to you later."

Klaus didn't reply. The hands covering his mouth strangled the sound of the sob that he was fighting in and Vanya saw the tears falling slowly. She swallowed hard again, waiting for Dad to turn to her and extend the punishment, waiting for the cold words, terrified he might hit her, but nothing come. He merely commanded the three of them to go to the dining room at once.

Vanya didn't dare look up at him, or Klaus, or Allison or Ben. They didn't look at her either. They marched down the stairs in stunned silence and she realized faintly that, just like yesterday night, everyone was just leaving Klaus alone crying. At least now she wouldn't be forced to listen to it again.

.

Five

.

Sometimes, being considerably better than everyone really did have its perks. He wasn't the first choice of invitation for silly ideas or front-seat spectator to family beefs, and he would sometimes get caught in the aftermath of something that he didn't quite catch.

It wasn't hard to fill in the blanks, though. What was interesting this time was how extensive they seemed to be.

Five looked at the half empty table and hardly managed to surpress a scoff. The absences weren't surprising, really. Luther and Diego were frequently grounded at the same time, for obvious reasons, and Klaus was a logical outcome too. Just because he hadn't start screaming or banging his head against a wall first thing in the morning didn't mean he was alright and last night didn't happen. He was bound to do something reckless, if not for anything else, simply because he couldn't deal with the causes of his breakdown alone. Obviously, Dad wouldn't compromise his posture: he wouldn't do any different than his own way, and his own way was to pretend nothing had happened until it inevitably did - therefore proving, to him, that he had plausible facts to justify just keep doing everything like he wanted. In his head, it'd always make sense and be the right way.

Klaus, and all of them for that matter, were stupid if they didn't see it.

Three of them were grounded for whatever reason, and the other three were looking as though they were too scared to dare to breathe too much.

What a stellar day. No doubt Dad was very satisfied.

And it was just lunch time.

.

Diego

.

Diego was tightly crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to ignore the throbbing pain on his eyebrow and tapping his foot impatiently when Klaus appeared at the door of the infirmary. Diego frowned as a way to say hello.

"Great, now I have to be with two morons instead of one. You're grounded too?"

Klaus shrugged and dragged his feet. Diego frowned a bit more when he took a better look at his face, seeing a clear red flush on the bottom half of it. His lips seemed a bit swallowed and there was redness around it, like he had hit his mouth somewhere somwhow. He then noticed the trails of tears on his cheeks. Klaus rested his back against the wall beside them and sliding down to the floor, crossing his legs and loosely crossing his arms on his lap.

"Did you have another tantrum again?" Luther provoked, but all he got was another shrug.

"How's the arm?" Diego asked, glaring at Luther. If he had to be here with the two of them, he knew for sure whose stupidity he'd prefer to put up and side with.

Klaus shrugged again. "Hurts. Luther's a dick."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock," Diego scoffed.

"I'm right here, morons," Luther complained. Diego scoffed harder and Klaus shrugged for the fourth time.

"I didn't sleep well, I get headbutted, and now I gotta sit with you two," Diego moaned. "Thanks a bunch."

"I guess that was my fault, too," Klaus said quietly.

"Don't get cocky," Diego replied. "You know what's your fault."

"Yeah, I do."

"If only you used that stubborness for useful things," he continued, though the harshness of his voice dropped down a bit in hopes Klaus would understand his point without having to say it. He heard him all that time locked in the bedroom. He hadn't liked it one bit, and not really just because it kept him awake for another hour. "Whatever you did now, it wasn't a good use."

Klaus scoffed quietly. "Yeah. I wonder. It wasn't as if I could ask and ask and ask the old cavern troll to get anything out of him. I doubt even I am stubborn enough to do that."

Diego blinked and found himself scoffing. He turned to Luther just to see how the big baby processed the words.

"You're talking about Dad," Luther said eventually.

"You're the one who said it," Klaus replied.

"Don't do that again. Show some respect."

"Or what? You're gonna try to tear my other arm off?"

"Don't be stupid, Klaus, I didn't hurt you that much."

Klaus sneered and pulled his legs closer to his chest. The three of them fell silent for a moment, after which Diego turned his face to Klaus again. There was a fresh watery glint on his cheek, and the redness around his mouth was still clear. Diego breathed out quietly. He wasn't just going to ask him what was wrong; things didn't work that way with him. He had subtler ways to do it.

"What did you do now, you idiot?" Yeah. Subtle. "Did you have a breakdown again?"

"I'm actually quite calm," he replied dryly. "It doesn't feel too bad. I wouldn't be always frowning if I could hear all this quiet all the time."

"Since when do you frown?" Diego asked, getting yet another shrug as answer.

"I meant Vanya."

"What does she have to do with anything?"

Klaus shrugged one more time and Diego frowned in annoyance. Was he _trying_ to be annoying with all that dismissiveness? Why the hell was he so stubborn with only the bad things?

Diego didn't get a lot of time to dwell on that. He heard Dad's footsteps approach and turned to the door to see him step inside. Lunch time was already over; suddenly, Diego felt his stomach growl.

"Have you three thought back on your misbehaving?" he asked, purposefully wanting them to answer and not passing with an embarrassed silence. Luther and Diego replied and groaned respectively, but Klaus didn't say anything. Dad didn't really seem surprised. "Number Four. I asked you a question."

"Am I allowed to answer now?"

"Klaus," Luther hissed before Diego could.

"That pouting behavior only shames you, Number Four, not me," Dad said with his voice even. "It was your own actions that led you here and you will learn to face the consequences of it."

"I didn't do anything."

"You did exactly what a weak person would, and prove yourself even worse by insisting on your lie."

Klaus' eyes widened. Diego saw the moment something lit up in his brain and he moved his face up to Dad. He seemed to struggle for a moment to believe whatever it was he had realized, but color vanished from his face all the same and his lips parted without any word coming out, just staring at Dad who stood unflinching even after the harsh words.

"...you lied."

Diego felt his body straightening up as if he had been stung with a needle and how Luther did the same as well. Dad's face fell slowly towards a frown that became heavier by the second.

"What did you say?"

Diego yelled mentally for Klaus to be quiet and tried to silently tell him that with his eyes but Klaus wasn't looking and wouldn't really have cared either way.

"You lied," he repeated louder instead. Luther stood up and Diego followed by reflex, unsure why exactly he had done it. He looked at Klaus in confusion, seeing the hurt in his face and how his eyes were watering from it. "You lied."

"I don't lie, Number Four," Dad said plainly. "Your irresponsibility is turning into arrogance and disrespect and I will not tolerate it."

"You knew I was gonna do that," Klaus voice broke. A tear fell down on his face. "You knew... you knew, you were just waiting to see when I would do it."

Diego frowned, not really following what was going on but seeing that, whatever it was, Klaus was right; the coldness in Dad's expression was striking. Luther didn't really seem interested beyond his outrage for Klaus' disrespect, and while Diego was undeniably surprised with it as well, there was clearly something wrong behind it. And it didn't seem to be Klaus.

Klaus didn't seem angry. If Diego had to try and find a word for what he saw on his brother's face, it was 'broken'. It wasn't disappointment or disbelief, and it was more than hurt. It was just broken.

Dad didn't seem to care. If anything, his face grew even colder. "You are the sole responsible for your actions, Number Four. It's your responsability to-"

"You_ lied," _Klaus insisted, and more quiet tears followed. "You just pretended like nothing happened because you _knew_ it'd make me do something, that I'd try to make it better somehow."

Diego ignored Luther's pathetic outrage and focused on Dad because the sight of Klaus was becoming too much to bear, only to find out Dad was a much worst one.

"Your actions are your own, Number Four. You are weak, and this just proves it."

Klaus dropped his eyes when he caught his breath despite the increasing number of tears. "Why... why didn't you... you could've... told me you'd get me pills too, or-"

"You are not to take any medication you do not need."

"But I need it!" Klaus raised his voice but it was damaged from that hurt. "I can't sleep! I want to be able to just lay in my bed and sleep and not have to fear I'm gonna wake up with a corpse standing over me and calling my name!"

"Ghosts cannot harm you, Number Four."

"I don't care if you don't think they can! They do! They hurt me by not shutting up! They hurt me by showing me the horrible ways they died! I can't do anything for them, and they're destroying me!"

"Regardless, I did not lie to you. Do not try to turn your misconducts around and pin blame on others."

"Dad, listen to me, please-"

"You lied about having overcome your fear," Dad cut him, making Klaus cower back.

"It doesn't matter if I'm scared of them or not, what matters is that I can't function with them, Dad!"

"Your whole purpose is to function with them, Number Four." Dad corrected sharply, making Diego blink and Klaus cover his face with his hands, his body jerking slightly. "You lied to your sister, and you lied to me. Hiding behind tears and lies will not change anything. Lying has severe consequences, as you will learn. It's about time for you to face them and learn properly once and for all."

Diego almost feared that Klaus wouldn't back down, not even with the warning/threat, but he seemed to give up. He sank slightly more on the floor, his face still hidden, and Dad decided to leave him there.

"You two can go," he said to Luther and Diego. "Your study time is about to start. You'll stay here, Number Four."

Klaus didn't say anything, didn't complain, didn't break down crying. He just kept fighting a losing battle with the silent tears. Diego pressed his lips and did his best not to speak, because while before he'd wonder _'what was there to say?'_, now he was sure there'd be a lot. And he'd face just as a bad punishment as Klaus would.

"You know, you're right," Luther said quietly when they were alone in the corridor. "Klaus is stupidly stubborn."

Diego bit down his tongue and remained silent.

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to be continued

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* * *

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Author's Note: A little hint: manipulating emotionally fragile children and punishing them in the fashion to come will not teach them not to lie, it'll just teach them there's no point in trying to ask for help and that you need to do whatever you can to help yourself.

Seems like DSBM is the soundtrack of this fic.

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated.

Next chapter: Some 'educating' through a subject matter I find quite heavy. Warnings will be added.


	3. The aftermath

Author's Note: Ok, so about this chapter. IT'S HUGE, sorry.

I have to thank my friend and work colleague for doing a bit of brainstorming with me and suggesting the following scenario for Reginald's 'educating' methods. Actually, he basically came up with the whole plot of this chapter, so, kudos to him, not me. Also to my other friend and colleague who helped fill in some gaps that were left! Basically, my only jobs this chapter were:  
\- raise problems (_'I want this and this to happen, but I don't know how!', 'I can't think of how this's gonna work out', 'This is the whole point of the chapter, but how can I make it interesting?'_)  
\- write.

Thanks to the new folks too! JayChan13, CosmicChick97, Doctor959, bambiSteve, xReneexx and new kudos :)

Warnings: Language. Some graphic descriptions and disturbing content involving a murdered family. Terrible parenting that is downright torture here. Mentions of alcohol. Keep in mind that the kids are just kids here. I don't know how to warn it differently without spoiling everything.

Enjoy.

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* * *

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_12 January 2002_

_6:10 PM_

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Five

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"So. What happened with you two? He waited to see which one of them would move their gaze away first, and therefore likely being the one to give in first. No surprise on whom it was. "Maybe you need to change your tactics, Ben. Klaus is not really paying attention to you or your advices anymore."

Ben turned sullenly, but Allison's expression became that annoyed look telling Five to shut up.

"Who says it has anything to do with Klaus?" Ben complained. "And why do you care, anyway?"

"I don't really, to be honest," Five replied in earnest. "I'm just curious why you two have been so grim the entire day. Vanya's not really anything new, but I guess you two must have a reason for it."

"Nothing happened, Five," Allison said dismissively, confirming what Five already knew. Something had definitely happened.

"Well, I'm guessing it was something brilliant and typical Klaus-fashioned," he mused. "Dad must be proud of himself."

Ben pressed his lips and lowered his gaze, looking guilt-ridden.

"What do you mean?" Allison asked. Five shrugged.

"Everything happens how Dad wants. He dismissed Klaus yesterday and his crying fit-"

"Klaus wasn't putting up a tantrum," Ben interrupted, incorrectly assuming Five was accusing him.

"I didn't say that. It was profoundly annoying, but some people can tell when something is serious and when it's not. And Dad doesn't care."

"Five," Allison said warningly, though the action just made Five sneer.

"It's true. Dad dismissed Klaus the entire morning, _more_ than usual, for a reason. If he's grounded, I bet he did something because of his little attack last night, and it wasn't like a spoiled kid trying to get Dad's attention, it was literally because he didn't have any attention to his problem. And Dad knew it and dismissed him deliberately to get him winded up. He probably did it as a test, or, knowing the old man, he probably did it just to prove his preconcieved point."

Ben frowned and exchanged looks with Allison, silently sharing a mental understanding over whatever they both knew.

"Lunch was quite peaceful, though. Hopefully dinner will be, too. Are Luther and Diego still grounded?"

"I don't know."

"Hm. Let's hope."

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Luther

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Luther was pounting for a while now. Study time always sucked, but it was a bit worse with the fact he had been grounded because of Diego. Not to mention his head hurt. He was pretty sure Dad had given him more difficult questions because he was still disappointed, but Luther did his best anyway. Pounting, but doing his best.

"Luther, dear?" Mom called him when she saw him sitting on the sofa. "Can you help me with dinner?"

"Yeah Mom, sure," he replied, though he did make the mental remark that Vanya was usually the one that helped Mom out the most. He wasn't really in the helping mood, and he got even less in the mood when he saw Diego in the kitchen. The dislike was shared.

"You boys need to stop fighting all the time," Mom said kindly but firmly without any of them even having to open their mouths. "You are brothers."

"We're team colleagues," Luther rephrased, getting a sneer out of Diego.

"Shitty team with a shitty leader."

"Boys," Mom interrupted before they could get at it again. Both of them pounted and turned to their tasks, their backs turned against each other as much as they could. "You are brothers. You know you are supposed to work as a team, together. None of you is as strong alone as you are together."

Luther huffed and started to stack up dinner plates; the less time he had to be in the same room as Diego, the better.

"Your father will not join us for supper, I'm afraid," Mom said when she counted the pile.

Luther frowned. "Where is he?"

"Oh, he's just busy." Luther frowned but took one plate out, making Mom add: "Klaus won't, either."

.

Diego

.

"Why?" Diego asked instead, turning to Mom.

Mom gave a quick smile, but Diego saw it had that particular strain that told him she wasn't comfortable with her words.

"Your brother is still grounded, I'm afraid. He did a very serious thing and your father is very disappointed with him."

"So he won't eat another meal?" Diego asked.

"Why isn't Dad coming for dinner, either?" Luther asked at the same time.

That smile again. "You father's busy, sweetie. You all know he has a lot of work to do."

Diego frowned deeply. He didn't like that dodging. From the corner of his eye, he saw Luther turn his face to him but he didn't look back. Mom looked at Diego too, gave that smile once more but saw it didn't work at all and it wavered slightly.

"Don't worry yourself with it, sweetheart. Let's finish this, yes?"

Diego shook his head and turned around, leaving Luther complaining and Mom probably worried, but he didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. He climbed up the stairs to their bedrooms; Vanya hadn't come help, which meant she was probably hiding in her bedroom. She'd been at the start of the mess last night; she'd probably know something.

"Diego!" she yelped when he opened her door without warning. "Don't startle me like that!"

"Do you know why Klaus's grounded?" he asked without bluntly, and Vanya sunk in her bed, alerting him.

"He did something bad."

"Yeah, what a shocker. What did he do?"

"Don't you know how to knock? Jeez, Diego, seriously."

.

Allison

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Diego didn't seem bothered with her snappy words at all. He simply turned to her, standing behind him at Vanya's door, and directed his question to her. "What did he do?"

"Why are you asking me? Or her, for that matter?"

"Because sometimes I think you care for him," Diego snarled. "Other times, I think you just care when he's helping you with something."

Allison put her hands on her hips angerly. "You're a douchebag, Diego."

"Yeah, just like you, not giving a damn, right?"

"And you do?"

"Guys," Vanya intervened. "There's been enough of this already, alright?"

Diego huffed, squinting at her. God, he could be so annoying sometimes.

"Dad's not home, and neither is Klaus," he said bitterly. Allison moved her eyes to Vanya by reflex, both of them just knowing without saying anything. "If he's doing some mausoleum stuff again, we won't be able to sleep for weeks."

"How very Luther-ian of you," Allison couldn't help but let out just to poke him, and it worked.

"Shut up, Allison!"

"Guys, don't start! Vanya said again. "Come on."

Allison breathed through her nose sharply, looking angerly at Diego. Whether he was actually worried about Klaus or himself was irrelevent, really, but she couldn't stand accusations. She _was_ worried for Klaus; she'd never want him to get slapped, but it was his own doing. Dad was angry. If he'd taken Klaus somewhere, it was probably a repeat of the mausoleum all over again. Allison knew how much that had damaged Klaus - she knew, because unlike what Diego said, she_ did_ care for him and loved him. She hadn't been really showing it lately, but she did - and if he was really going to do something similar, it wouldn't bring anything good. Klaus was fragile enough as it is.

But there was nothing any of them could do. Klaus had stolen Vanya's pills and apparently even taken one. She wasn't happy in the slightest to know Klaus wasn't home, but there was nothing any of them could do. She said so outloud, earning another glare from Diego and a concerned look from Vanya, but what could any of them hope to do, anyway? They could probably just hope they'd be able to sleep tonight. Allison could attempt to Rumor Klaus into sleep, but Dad had explicitly forbidden her from using her powers on her siblings. So there was nothing she could do.

.

Klaus

.

They were standing in front of a house, roughly thirty minutes drive away from the academy. It wasn't the most remote place he'd ever seen, but it was isolated enough, grey enough, abandoned enough. The screaming yellow police tape in front of the door was enough.

Klaus swallowed hard. He stood nailed to spot as he saw Dad grab the plastic tape and rip it off the door with one single, rough motion. The sound made him shiver.

"Dad..."

"Step inside, Number Four."

Klaus tried to swallow again. He looked to the side of the street where the car had left them. It was gone now, isolating them enough with that isolated grey house. There was no one in sight, and it was starting to grow dark. He could run; there was nothing really stopping him. Could Dad really chase after him? He could hide somewhere, for a while. He'd think of something later. His stomach growled against it almost automatically; it'd be night time soon and he'd be alone and hungry. But he could go and hide and deal with Dad's wrath later, maybe finding something to eat while he waited. He tried to see if his legs moved, but they felt literally nailed to the ground, betraying him and his fears.

"If you run away, you will only worsen your situation," Dad said with a piercing tone, making Klaus turn his head back to him with a snap and another shiver run down through his body. "You will stop avoiding your responsibilities. Step inside, Number Four."

He had unlocked the door with a key (of course he had a key to a random house he'd never seen, that was locked and isolated with police tape for certainly very fair reasons. Why or how he got it hardly mattered. Dad could get whatever he wanted, specially what other people didn't want. He'd bought seven unwanted and unplanned babies, hadn't he?)

Klaus might be nailed the ground and unable to run, but that also meant he was unable to move forward. He could see the contours of a small, cozy hall beyond the door. There was no light inside. He thought he heard movement, but he wasn't sure. Dad exhaled sharply and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him inside the house.

The hall had a stale smell. Dust had gathered in a thin layer over a small table, over the leaves of a fake plant in a little vase on top of it. It stirred off the blue, now greenished, round carpet at the entrance in small puffs when Klaus feet dragged over it. There was something cold and strange in the air. Sounds of footsteps approached.

A man appeared in the hall, coming from a corridor and moving to another room casually. He stopped to look at them as Dad closed the door behind them and locked it; the sound froze the blood in Klaus' body and sent a shiver down his spine. It grew too dark to see anything much, but Dad turned on a large flashlight Klaus hadn't even seen he carried - why would he carry a flashlight? Though now it made perfect sense, and it sent a gleaming beam into the hall again, shining clean light over the man. Klaus instantly regretted it and winced when he saw the full chunk of the man's head that was missing and blood was just covering half of his face.

"Oh, God," he whimpered, turning his face away and closing his eyes.

"Good. You are already seen someone."

"What?" the man voiced, making Klaus feel like crying.

"No, please."

"Turn around, Number Four."

"No."

"You can see me?" the man asked. Klaus waved his head and gasped when Dad grabbed a firm hold of his nape and forced him to face forward again. The roughness made him try to smother a cry and he blinked, seeing the man again.

"Oh, God," he repeated weakly, just unable to keep his eyes open for long, there was just_ so much blood_, that wound was horrible, it looked like a gunshot just ripped off- "Oh God, oh God, oh God..."

"Quiet now," Dad commanded. "Is it a man or a woman you are seeing?"

"Who the hell are you two?" the man asked now, stepping forward to them and Klaus cowered back despite the fact Dad was still grabbing at his nape.

"Please, don't," Klaus begged, and his words might have passed as pleading to his father, if only he hadn't been stupid and idiot and his eyes looked directly to the man in his attempt to move his face away.

"You _can_ see me. How the hell can you see me?"

"Please, I'm sorry," Once again, he wasn't fully aware of what or to whom he was apologizing.

"Is it a man or a woman you are seeing?" Dad repeated sharply next to his ear.

"A man," he replied, trying to catch his breathing, to little or no avail. "A-A man, he's... God, he's-"

"Does he have a gunshot wound to the chest?"

Klaus' whole body shivered and he tried to swallow. "N-No, he's... his head is just..."

"Hm. So it's the father."

"What?" Klaus whimpered.

"Who the hell are you, you old cunt?" the man blurped out, getting visibly angry, and Klaus was stuck between the two of them, feeling like he was starting to choke in his own body.

"Dad, let's get out of here, please, he's angry, I don't-"

"He is dead, Number Four."

"He's here, Dad, he's right_ here_, please-"

"Ask him where the other man is."

"What?"

"I can hear you, you stupid old cunt! Get out of my house!" the man yelled, storming at them with his teeth gritted. Klaus screamed and covered his ears.

Nothing happened. The man didn't harm them, just walked right past them. His threats hovered, coming from Dad's side now.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you both! You hear me? You hear me, you little cowering shit? Get out of my house! Get out! Get out!"

Dad was speaking under the man. Dad couldn't hear the threats to know the man was yelling so loud right over him and Klaus couldn't make out the words he was saying, but neither of them stopped and Klaus pushed his hands hard against his ears, choking on a sob as he started to cry.

"Shut up!" he screamed at the man, who didn't care to stop. Klaus bit his teeth and pushed his fingers on his hair. "Stop! Stop it!"

"What are you gonna do about it, you shit? Huh?! I'm gonna kill you, you know that? I'll kill you both!"

"Dad, get me out of here! Please!"

A hand grabbed his arm and he screamed, felt like his heart just jumped out of his chest. He threw his back against the wall to run away, but it was Dad who was grabbing him, his expression cold and serious and unyielding. His face was surrounded by shadows and yet it was so clear.

"I want you to talk to them," Klaus managed to hear Dad say.

"What?! Dad, please-"

"Talk to them, Number Four."

"Them?! Where are we, what happened here?"

"A murder happened here, Number Four, as it should be quite obvious."

Klaus felt like sinking to the floor and just hide, hide,_ hide_, do something to run away from all of that, to pretend nothing of it was happening,_ anything_. God, if only he could cover his ears well enough, if he could close his eyes hard enough, if he could curl down and just stop anyone from grabbing at him and pulling him and forcing him to move to where he didn't want to, if only he could just-

Dad pulled him forward, grabbing at his arm with a tight hold that pressed his fingers into the bruise made by Luther the night before. He probably wouldn't have heard Klaus' moan of pain under the man's continuous threats and screams, the man for sure wouldn't have been able to hear it with that ruckus, Klaus certainly didn't hear the sound himself, but the house was otherwise fully silent and the only real sound was his whimpering and his own screams.

"Dad-!"

"He is not going to harm you, Number Four, he is _dead._"

"Run away!" the man bellowed, thankfully not hearing Dad's words. "Yeah, go! Go and hide like that little coward!"

Klaus had to look over his shoulder to see if the man was following them, but he just stood on the hall, a shadow in the now increasing darkness they were leaving behind, yelling and waving at them and at the air, just going around in circles trying to vent his anger off. Right before the light in Dad's hand got too distant from the hall, Klaus managed to see the man from the back and his head wound was even worse and Klaus just wailed and snapped his face away.

It was pretty pointless, though. Dad probably didn't really know where he was going, but it was hard to get lost in a corridor with two doors and _now_ things were becoming clearer to the real world as they were for him; the light revealed blood on the floor of the corridor and on the wall, one a puddle and the other a blast of browned and completely dried blood that had been very poorly cleaned away after whatever had happened and Klaus tried, he_ tried_ to stop walking but Dad was still pulling him and stepping carelessly over the dried smudge while Klaus tried to side step around it and, in his struggle, he heard a rustle sound coming from nearby. He turned his head to the side to a room with its door wide open, where a sudden movement caught his eye in the darkness. They had startled someone, who jolted up and cowered back to their previous hiding place behind a couch. Dad noticed how Klaus turned his face and turned the flashlight accordingly, sending a gleam of light and shadows on the room. Klaus' eyes moved down by reflex, saw a little girl with wide eyes staring back at him and he just felt his stomach jump to his mouth.

"Oh God, no," Klaus gasped and threw his hands to his face, pulling his arm free from Dad's grasp and covering his mouth tightly and closing his eyes even harder. He gasped against the palm of his hand, shaking his head to shove that image away from his mind, feeling tears falling again.

"Number Fo-"

"No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't be here, I can't be here, Dad, I need to get out, please."

"You will get out when you talk to them." Klaus waved his head harder, starting to feel physically sick even though he hadn't eaten anything for hours. "You are to find out what happened here, Number Four."

"No. I don't wanna be here, I don't wanna be here Dad, please-"

"Mommy?"

Klaus gasped and almost looked but_ God_ he couldn't, he couldn't look, he couldn't see that again.

"Why's he crying, mommy?"

"I don't know, sweetie," a woman's voice replied and Klaus choked on a sob, covering his ears with his fists.

"Did dad hurt him?"

"I don't know, just... come here, come here."

"Oh my God," Klaus was shaking. "Dad, please..."

"Is it the man?" he asked simply and matter-of-factly. He didn't see them, he didn't hear them, he'd _never_ just talk like that if he'd see-

"No, it's not, just... please, why are we here? Why did you bring me here?"

"Ask where he is."

"Who, Dad?! Just- God, let me out of here, please."

"Attend to your task and you will be."

Klaus bit back a new sob and struggled to raise his head, moving his fists from his ears to his cheeks to jerkily hide the tears away for some stupid and useless reason. He turned his face to the room again, unable to lift his eyes from the floor of the corridor though. He opened his mouth, but the words got strangled and choked on his throat. He tried again. The flash of the little girl pushed through his mind and made him gag.

"I can't. Please, I... I can't."

"The child. Is that it?"

Klaus failed to hold the sob and just felt pathetic, unable to look at either Dad or the woman inside.

"Dad, please... I can't do this, I just wanna go home, please..."

"_This_ is what you are supposed to do, Number Four."

No, no... why was he supposed to see corpses of violent men with half their heads blown off and of scared children? Hear their screams or their cries? In what way, shape or form was this supposed to make any sense and be what he was supposed to do? He just wanted to go home, and if all this was because Dad was angry with what had happened today with Vanya and about the previous night, how was any of_ this_ gonna help him sleep and not have a panic attack again?

"I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

"This will be over when you do as you are told, Number Four."

"I don't-" the repeated words turned into a yelp when Dad grabbed him by the nape again with clear frustrated anger and Klaus shut his eyes tight by reflex.

"_Talk_ to them, Number Four, ask them what happened, ask them where the other man is."

"Why does he keep saying that?" the woman asked from the room, making Klaus' breathing fall short again and choke in anguish.

"I don't know! I don't know why we're here, I don't know why he...! I don't want to see any of you, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but I can't-"

"Tom is over there," the woman said, and Klaus blinked weakily. She was standing with the child on her arms; the little girl was hiding her face, tucked on the curve of her mother's neck. The woman's face seemed very pale with the gleam of the flashlight hitting her form directly, and her clothes were bloodied, there were black bullet holes scattered through her chest and just rows of red bright blood coming off them.

"God, I'm... I'm so sorry."

The woman's brows furrowed, a heavy expression on her face. Klaus felt the tears stinging his eyes again.

"He killed you, didn't he?"

The woman pressed the child closer and Klaus choked on his sob.

"Why did you bring me here, Dad? Why do I have to-"

"Ask them where the other man is."

The woman pointed again, and Klaus did the same. Dad let him go and moved the flashlight promptely to that direction, waiting for Klaus to walk to the other door of the corridor but he stopped on his tracks because the man was standing by the doorframe with a confused frown on his face. He had a huge red blot over his plain shirt, and if he was the man Dad had been mentioning from the moment they got inside this place, he didn't look anything different or special. He looked skinny and normal, and dead.

"What happened here?" Klaus asked him, not really wanting to leave him much room for some of those confused questions again. He was so tired.

"Who are you?" the man asked anyway, and Klaus waved his head with renewed force.

"Please, I just wanna get out of here, please, help me. Just tell me-"

"Help _you?_ _I_ want to get out of here," the man replied instead and Klaus tried to inhale jerkily, tried to breathe. "How the hell can you see me? How can you see us?"

"Please! I don't wanna be here!"

"Then why are you?"

"That old cunt wants to see my brother?" the father's voice echoed from the entrance and Klaus shivered. The child whimpered and cowered on her mother's arms and they retreated further into the darkness of the room and out of sight and Klaus would've done the same if he could but Dad was right there, just silently watching without knowing anything that was going on, just waiting quietly to get whatever he wanted out of this. The man with the gunshot in his chest, Tom, retreated to his own room and Klaus just stumbled after him. The father appeared in the corridor and passed by Dad and Klaus couldn't look at him and see that horrible face again but he could feel the rage and threat of his grunts. "Oh, great! Now it's two fucking little cowards together! Great, Tom! A little chicken shit, scrawny scared brat to join you!"

"Shut up!" Tom yelled back. Klaus sobbed and covered his ears again.

"Look at you! What a brat."

"Shut up!" now he yelled too, pulling at his hair without really realizing. "You killed everyone, didn't you? That's it, isn't it?"

Rather than back down or feel guilty or sad or _something_, the man just yelled louder, pointing and accusing. "He did it! It was all because of him!"

"I didn't do anything, you sick bastard!"

"Yes you did! It's all your fault!"

"You shot that lady, you shot a child," Klaus pushed the words out, shaking his head again. "Didn't you? _You_ did that."

"You little-"

"Just say it! Please, I wanna get out of here!"

"_'You wanna get out of here'_?" the man repeated in mocking. "Yes, I did it! But he's the one at fault!"

"How?! How can you say he's the one at fault when _you_ killed them?" Klaus gaped. "What... what could he have done that justified this?"

"He lied!" the man yelled and Klaus felt the words punch him in the stomach and kick the air out of his body, blocking any other words and rubbish explanations the man was throwing out.

Two times in a single day was too much, and he didn't want to believe it, but again, he just felt utterly drained out by the undeniable truth; Dad had just done it all on purpose. Dad had disregarded his fear last night, had acted on purpose to ignore Klaus during the morning to push him to act rashly, knowing he'd do it, not trusting him and being proved right in end. He just lied, just pretended everything was alright but it was just to push him to do something, and now, this was all... _This_ was why...? This was why Dad brought him to this horrible place?

Klaus looked at Dad, that sinking feeling weighting so much again, just hoping and wanting to see some acknowledgement of it, some admiting that this was all on purpose. Or if he couldn't get that, at least hoping Dad would see, understand what he was doing to him, see how hurt he was,_ please understand, see what you're doing to me, see me_, but Dad didn't. He was unfazed, looking down and waiting.

"This is why you brought me here?" Klaus said weakly. "This? Just because he lied?"

"You lied, Number Four. You took your sister's medication-"

"_You_ lied!" Klaus cut him instead, his voice breaking and tears rising again to his eyes and making him_ so_ angry that he was crying all the time and no one took him serious because of it, no one cared, but only crying harder for it. Dad's face darkened but Klaus didn't stop. "_You_ were the one that lied! You pretended the whole day just to make me do something! You did it on purpose to make me feel worse, you knew I'd try to do something and you just made sure I would!"

Dad's expression grew darker. "You have only yourself to blame, Number Four. I told you you need to learn the consequences of your actions. Lying, stealing. Your behavior is absolutely-"

"Oh, another liar! Another little shit who lies and steals, huh?!" the man joined Dad's choir of accusations.

"I just wanted to feel better! I just wanted to do something to help me because you never do! You don't care that I don't want to do this, I don't want to be locked in mausoleums or have to see angry ghosts all the time!"

"Your fear of the dead is sheer idiocy, Number Four. You not controlling your own power is solely your own fault, as it is behaving like this when you are made to train them."

"Seeing dead children isn't making me train my powers, Dad! God! Why do you do this to me?! Why do you-" Dad raised his finger sharply to interrupt him, but the mere sudden movement made Klaus flinch. "Don't hit me again!"

"I did not hit you, Number Four. You were telling lies and I quieted you."

"For fuck's sake," Tom huffed on the other side of Klaus. "You have a handful on your hands too, kid."

Klaus tried to swallow down hard, his mouth was so dry it had turned his breathing loud and raspy and he coughed, trying to calm himself before he'd start sobbing. Of course, it didn't work.

"Don't listen to what he says. He's a bad man."

"He's my Dad," Klaus sobbed, turning his face to Tom, not caring which parts of the conversation Dad could hear. "I'm the one that's bad, I know, but I just wanted him to see, to understand..."

"There's no point," Tom continued, looking at his dead brother. "Some people don't change."

"Look who's talking!" the man threw back at him.

"I stole money from him," Tom told Klaus. "I wanted to buy booze to drown my problems. That is my fault, yes, it wasn't a good thing, but I never did it to harm anyone. He did that," he pointed to the man, who just sneered. "I just wanted to forget he existed, to block him out. It would have worked if he wasn't a bad man. It wouldn't have been needed in the first place if he wasn't. Tell that to your shit father, if he'd be able to understand."

Klaus coughed again, shaking his head. He wouldn't understand. There was no point in arguing with him. Klaus was so tired.

"I just wanna go home, Dad, please."

"Have you learned the consequences of lying, Number Four?"

"I certainly would want to drown all my problems if I were you," Tom said as well. Klaus could feel him growing angry next to him. "What did you do? Steal some pills? I don't blame you. Did it help?"

He nodded, his head dropped to his chest. Neither Dad or Tom were really sure whom had got the answer.

"Have you learned that liars and thieves will always suffer dire consequences?"

"I didn't want him to kill his family, you bastard!" Now it was Tom that was screaming and Klaus cowered, he couldn't do this again. "It wasn't my fault!"

"Well look at that, the old cunt has a point!" the bad man said over his Dad, who had continued talking.

"-your night terrors."

"Dad..."

"You deserved it," the bad man yelled. "You coward! Junkie, weak, you-"

"I wanted to get away from you!" Tom threw at his brother. "What you did just proves it! You killed your wife just because you thought she was the one that stole the money! You killed your child!"

Klaus grit his teeth and dropped to his knees, clutching his head between his hands. "Dad, get me out of here!"

"You are weak, Number Four."

"Shut up, you old bastard!"

"-ou will continue to suffer in this idiotic manner until you truly learn the fact-"

"Shut up already!"

"-this is what you are meant to do, and without it, you're just a pathetic excuse-"

"DAD!"

He heard something loud and harsh and a stumble and the screams stopped. Klaus didn't look up to see, he didn't want to know what happened, but he heard the bad man make a startled sound and then someone grabbed Klaus' arm hard and he whimpered by reflex, fighting against it before he was thrown outside the room, nearly tripping and losing his balance.

"Get out of here," Tom ordered from behind him sharply, angerly. "Get out of here!"

Klaus did it. He ran down the dark corridor to the entrance hall, hearing the man without half his head screaming behind him. The flashlight poured its pale light from behind him too, sending a large shadow against the door. It was locked. He grabbed at the knob and shoved it back and forth, punched the door, jumped when his Dad grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him aside. Klaus' eyes widened from seeing his monocle hanging lose by its chain; there was a drop of blood forming at the corner of his mouth. The key turned on the lock before he could try to think about anything though, and Klaus stumbled outside, wheezing with the cold air of the night.

The house was locked up again. Klaus grit his teeth, expecting Dad to resume his punishing words, but instead he turned somewhere else.

"Number Seven!" Dad roared instead to his surprise, making Klaus snap his head to the road.

.

Vanya

.

Before she got to the abandoned house, Vanya had been in her bedroom, adding Diego and Allison's visit to her whirl of thoughts.

She dangled her feet over the edge of her bed. She couldn't do it as well as she did when she was little, when her feet would appear to be so far away from the floor. She used to wonder how it would be when she didn't have to hop off the bed every morning, how amazing it would probably feel like. Now she saw it really wasn't anything special at all.

What a surprise, really.

She knew she should be helping Mom. It would help her get distracted from thoughts, but actually, the idea just seemed anything but distracting right now. She thought on the clashing of the platter, Klaus' particular kindness up until that moment and how it was all clearly with the single intent of deceiving her and get a hold of her pills.

She wasn't really mad anymore, but she definitely felt just as hurt as before, if not more. No, definitely more. Because now she wasn't just blaming Klaus for stealing and lying. _She_ had let him steal and lie.

Of course, she didn't_ want_ him steal from her or take one pill, but she should have been more careful, more thoughtful, not just act stupid and silly like she did and allowing the whole thing to happen. She was responsible. As for the lying part... she could have told the truth upfront, but she didn't want Dad to be mad at her by proving exactly that - that she had been careless in the first place. Dad would deem Klaus as guilty as her, and she got scared. Thinking about it now, she realized that, even if Klaus hadn't intervened, she probably wouldn't have been able to be fully upfront, fearing Dad's anger of her proven carelessness over his anger of her omitting the truth. But then Klaus did try telling the truth, or half truth, at least. Maybe he thought exactly the same way, that Dad would blame them both when he knew it was his sole fault.

He should have thought about that before tricking her to begin with, though. Not that she would've likely given him pills if he had asked her though, either. Those were for her, and if Dad hadn't given him any, it was because he didn't need it.

Though that was debatable.

And then Dad had slapped him, just a quick, wip-like backhanded smack to the mouth. It wasn't like he had been violent enough to split his lip or something, but it had been purposeful and angry. Dad had, for all effects and purposes, hit him and she never saw him hit _any_ of them in the face. And that was the source of Vanya's renewed sense of guilt, irrational as it might be.

And now Dad had taken him God knows where.

Sighing, Vanya stood up and opened the door of her bedroom.

She tried to feel her resolve strengthening as she climbed up the stairs, but it wasn't really working as well as she would've hoped. By the time she was in front of Dad's study, she was feeling her hands struggling to get steady and she turned them into the pill case instead, guiding them to a much clearer and familiar task. Then she breathed in and knocked to make sure.

There was no answer. Breathing in again, she temptatively held the doorknob, before turning it and peeking inside.

The study was indeed empty.

Vanya bit her lip and straightened her back, breathing out slowly. Alright. Diego was right. So, what now?

Was this a second chance to rethink what she was doing? Because what _was_ she doing, anyway? She knew it was pointless to talk to Dad about Klaus - he had already been grounded anyway (and rightfully so, he _had_ done something bad), and telling the full truth was pointless because Dad already knew he had stolen the pills and lied about not taking any. So...

So he had been punished. He was_ being_ punished. And she wasn't. A stupid thought process, dreading to be punished but finding it unfair that she hadn't. She felt too guilty not to be truly blamed of something, not to deserve some sort of rebuke or acknowledgement, anything. Dad had simply ignored her. Didn't look at her during lunch time, didn't address her in any way throughout the afternoon study session. He just didn't care, and while Vanya should be happy for that, she wasn't.

Vanya breathed in and grew resolve. She stepped inside Dad's study, knowing very well it was forbidden. In the back of her mind, her thought process was this: _this way he has to be angry. He has to be. _And he definitely would, just perhaps not like Vanya was expecting him to.

She stepped towards his desk, peeking at the contents he had in slight disarray over it in hopes of finding something that would help her guess where they had gon. She saw some paperwork that hadn't been finished, some notebooks with pretty bindings, a newspaper. The bold lettering caught her eye.

_SIBLING QUARREL RESULTS IN FAMILY SLAUGHTER_

The article gave notice of a murder that had occured - Vanya checked the date on the front of the newspaper - around two months ago. She vaguely wondered why Dad had kept a newspaper for that long and was looking at it today, but the answer crawled on the back of her mind at once. Apparently, the father had shot his wife and their small daughter, waited for his brother to come home and shot him too before killing himself. The article mentioned a suicide note, and the police had concluded that the whole thing was solely due to some money that had been stolen by the man's brother.

Vanya felt a shiver run down her back and struggled to swallow a lump on her throat. She felt her guilty mess turn into a different type of unease, picking at her nerves, and it wasn't fully related to the gruesome insane article - or rather, it really was. She looked at the place mentioned in the article. Dad had noted an address over the area described as the family's house. It was closeby.

Vanya bit her lip, that unease growing the more she thought about it. She wasn't wrong, was she?

"Miss Vanya."

Vanya nearly jumped out of her skin. She let go of the newspaper at once and turned to find Pogo by the door. He was silent, a condescenting look on his face for a few moments.

"You know none of you are allowed in your father's study, Miss Vanya."

Vanya lowered her head, holding her hands close. "I'm sorry."

She didn't really move, though. Pogo didn't move either, carefully and patiently waiting for her to do it instead, and Vanya pinched her lips. Was there really a point in asking him? Would he know, or would he tell her? Vanya tried to peek at him while still hiding behind the bangs of her hair, hoping she would be able to understand any signal from Pogo without him noticing, or that maybe he would be able to decipher her question just by looking. There was something, for sure, but she realized that Pogo's saddened face wasn't enough to calm down the unease.

"Let's go, Miss Vanya."

"Where's Dad and Klaus?" She was quite straightforward there, and Pogo didn't manage - or didn't want - to try to dismiss his answer either, although he did look a bit saddened, or tired.

"I'm afraid your father has taken Master Klaus to practice and control his powers."

Vanya pinched her hands together now. She nodded, gazing at the newspaper again. It wasn't a mausoleum, but that wasn't good, either. How could that help him in any way? It was really just punishment, and a dreadful one.

"Let's go, Miss Vanya," Pogo repeated, and Vanya nodded again, quickly walking towards him and out of the study. She didn't wait for him to close the door or walk with her down the stairs to the dining room. The strong, growing resolve she hoped to build before was pumping in her body now and forming a simple, perfectly clear and flawed plan.

It wasn't really her fault Klaus was grounded, but she felt responsible. Responsible for having not stopped him from stealing and taking the pills, responsible for him getting slapped, responsible for having covered her ears tightly to numb down his screams last night. She always felt like she had done something wrong or not good enough, and now she had a real and clear justification to feel that way. She wasn't going to change Dad's idea, but she was going to try.

The house wasn't far by car, but too far on a walking distance, not to mention Vanya wasn't really or fully sure where that address was. That particular handicap was quickly solved by looking at the courtyard; Mom had got them bycicles on Christmas. Feeling her heart race but not drown or choke her for once, Vanya quickly climbed down and went outside, picking up her bycicle and planning out her escape route; with Mom probably finishing and preparing dinner and setting the table, going through the kitchen and trying to escape through there wasn't the best way, not to mention many more steps to climb up and down with the bycicle's weight on her arms. The main hall was hugely exposed, but it was probably the safest way, with less chances of being spotted... no, stupid, the dining room was right within field of vision. She ended up opting for the kitchen's back door, hoping it would work.

Her flawed plan quickly showcased its first misstep: they would quickly miss her for dinner. She bit down her lip and pressed on regardless, struggling to carry the bycicle the whole way to avoid the wheels making any alerting sound. She was halfway in the kitchen when a voice called after her.

"Vanya?"

She didn't know how she didn't spin on her heels with the bycicle and just knocked down something.

"Ben!" Her heart actually managed to jump and quiet down in the change of a beat. Another misstep turned into a blessing. "Ben."

"What are you doing?" he asked with a frown, looking behind himself in reflex to check if there was anyone else coming; of course he knew she wasn't supposed to be caught by anyone.

"Can you please tell Mom I'm too tired to go have dinner?" Vanya pleaded.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm... I'll be right back, okay? Just don't let them know where I am."

"But where are you going?" Ben repeated despite the urgency in her voice. "It's getting late, Vanya."

"Please, trust me."

"What's going on? Tell me."

"Dad took Klaus to a bad place again," she said quickly, seeing how his face changed to the words. "I know where they are. More or less. I'm going to... I'll just try to do something."

"Do what? Why are you going there for?"

"He's being punished, Ben, and I feel responsible for it." Perhaps later, she would be surprised with the ease with which she expressed her feelings. Right now, she just wanted to try and go before she was caught. "I just want... I don't know."

Ben's guilt-striken face probably rivalled her own. "You're not responsible. Klaus shouldn't have done what he did."

"No, he shouldn't," Vanya agreed.

"But he had a reason to do it."

"I know," she agreed again. "I know. Maybe I can talk to Dad about the pills, or... maybe he can get some for Klaus." The words sounded stupid even to her the moment she said them and she sighed in frustration. "I just don't want him to be alone again and just have to face that alone."

"I want to come with you."

"No, Ben, we can't both go," Vanya told him at once. "I need you to cover for me."

She knew she was putting a toll on Ben - but it was actually for the best. Mom wouldn't come to her room and find her missing, and no one would care if she didn't come down for dinner, specially since Dad wouldn't be there. She'd have time to go and hopefully come back. She was effectively doing exactly the same thing Klaus had done, lying and putting others in the position of lying for her; she knew it was wrong, but still did it anyway. It was reaffirming her sense of guilt.

Ben made his decision by quickly helping her to pass the bycicle through the back door and up the steps into the street. Night time had already fallen, and Vanya realized how chilly it was. Another misstep in her flawed plan.

"It's cold. Vanya, you-"

"I'll be right back," she cut him, hopping on top of the bycicle and starting to glide down the street.

She tried to keep her skirt from flying all over and just sending gushes of cold wind to her legs but it wasn't really easy to avoid it. She padeled fast, trying to think where she could go, using a bit of her classes and the training she learned second handedly from her siblings; the photo in the newspaper had a street sign that she could try to use as guidance. Following the area described in the newspaper, she just had to get there and then narrow it down to the right address Dad had noted down.

She arrived to the area the house was supposed to be at, absolutely freezing and wheezing, and got lost after about five minutes of trying to search for the correct place. She sighed in frustration and decided to resort to the most simple and extra ordinary course of action; ask an old lady she found in the street. She eyed Vanya suspiciously, making her heart flutter in her chest and making her chastising inner voice echo loudly, but the lady did give better directions to Vanya than she would have been able to find on her own.

She found the house, stopping her bycicle at the top of the road. It wasn't a main road, and it was considerably removed from where the lady was walking and from where she last saw people in the street. Here, there was no one in sight, and the house was lonely, the only street lamp nearby still considerably distant from the main door.

She left the bycicle leaning against the street lamp and walked down the road, her body casting a long shadow on the ground. She heard screams and suddenly the chill she got wasn't from the cold. Feeling her heartbeat on her throat, she pushed forward, looking at the door and deciding against it; she didn't know what she would find inside, though she wasn't expecting to see any ghosts. The house did look scary though, and she couldn't know if it was solely because of the newspaper article. It was creeping her out and the screams were even worse but she knew that sound.

Vanya walked around the house, trying to find a window to peek from. She found one, but it was too dark inside to see anything; there was some light turned on, though, aimed somewhere else and sending a faint gleam onto a corridor beyond the dark room. She moved around towards the light source, finding another window that showed a different room, the same corridor beyond it, and finding the light, Dad and Klaus.

Klaus was stumbling away from the room. Dad was standing in the darkness with a flashlight in his hand, moving it around the room, and for a moment, the brightness casted shadows around the furniture that made it look like there were more people in the room with him. He seemed confused, which scared Vanya, and then she got _really_ scared because he moved his eyes over the window and saw her.

Vanya swallowed hard and ran around the house again back to the front door. She heard someone bang against it from the inside, and a second later, Klaus stormed out of it, breathless and shaking. Dad followed immediately, and his face was directly turned at her, making her heart skip a beat.

"Number Seven!"

She stopped on her tracks and tried to breathe, to accept that her whole point of coming here was to try to talk to Dad, to tell him she was guilty too, to tell him that Klaus needed something to help him, to-

"This behaviour is utterly unacceptable, Number Seven!" he cut through her thoughts, shattering her resolve with just mere words. "How did you come here?"

"I just thought..."

"You entered my study, didn't you?" he demanded sharply, making Vanya sink her shoulders. She tried looking up, surprised to see Dad without his monocle, hanging loosely from its chain. He had a small cut on his lip, too.

"I-I'm sorry Dad, I just-"

"You are just an ordinary person," Dad interrupted her and Vanya dropped her gaze immediately. "An ordinary person knows how to do as they are told for their own safety. And you cannot even do that. It was your responsiblity to stop your brother from stealing your medication and stop all this from happening in the first place, and you could not even do that!"

There it was. Dad _was_ angry at her. Precisely as she feared, as she knew...

"And now you dare to enter my study and follow after us! Whatever was your purpose with this? You-"

"No, no, no, no..."

Dad turned around and Vanya looked at the front door too, seeing Klaus start to shake his head and stumble back.

"Number Four!"

"No! They're following me!" Klaus screamed at Dad, staggering up the road and looking over his shoulder, stopping with a whimper. "No, please. I can't help you, stay there!"

She knew she wouldn't see anything, but she still looked at the road behind them by reflex. It was dark and empty.

"I want to! But he doesn't let me!" he screamed again at whatever, or whomever, he was seeing. "No, keep him there, please..."

"You are conjuring them, Number Four. Control your power."

"I CAN'T! I CAN'T CONTROL THIS! DAD, PLEASE!"

"You can and you will. You will keep training until-"

"NO!" Klaus' voice broke and he covered his ears, looking up to the place behind them. "STOP SCREAMING AT ME! GOD! You deserved to die, you are a horrible man and you should never have killed anyone but yourself!"

Vanya felt as though her whole body was shaking, and this time she couldn't be sure if it was from fear or cold.

"I'll try, I'll try, but please don't follow me, please, I- SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"Number Four!" Dad called him again, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling his attention back. Before he could continue though, Klaus pleaded.

"Let me go home, please!"

"We will go home," Dad said, and Vanya could feel how it seemed the words lifted a ton off Klaus' body. "Hopefully you will have learned enough tonight, Number Four, as I have."

Klaus sobbed quietly, still turning his face towards the end of the road and nodding at who he was seeing while Dad focused his cold gaze back to her. He looked so different without his monocle, but just as scary.

"As for you, Number Seven. I am thoroughly disappointed with you. Perhaps the thing that's truly special about you is how much of a liability you are."

Vanya bit her lips, trying not to frown or show any expression while her heart was tightening to the point of pain and her lungs had pushed all oxygen from her body. She gasped quietly for air, feeling the movement pushing a tear off her eye.

"I hope you too have learned the consequences of your imprudence."

Vanya dropped her head. She could hear Klaus whispering, strained as he tried to fight his sobs, _'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'._ She didn't know what or to whom he was apologizing.

.

Ben

.

Ben heard the front door bang shut all the way from up his room. He startled up and went out quickly, climbing down the stairs to the entrance.

Dad had returned with Klaus and Vanya. He looked at her, but Vanya didn't return his gaze, hiding her eyes behind her bangs. Ben moved aside for Dad to climb the stairs, turning again in worry to the two of them.

"Hey," he tried when they approached, moving his eyes from one to the other. "I..."

"Not now, Ben, please," Klaus said weakly. Ben pressed his mouth and turned to Vanya again for help, but she didn't give him anything.

"What happened?" he tried, but the only answer he got was her shaking her head.

Ben followed after Klaus, hearing him bang the bathroom door shut. Shortly after, he heard the water running and his shoulders dropped. He heard Vanya move behind him, opening the door of her bedroom.

"Was it bad?" he asked her. Vanya lowered her head.

"I think so." And she left him alone in the corridor.

Ben felt absolutely useless. He had helped Vanya and covered for her, but turned out in nothing. He hadn't helped Klaus today, hadn't helped him yesterday. He was just an overall failure. How could he wish to make anyone feel better if he was this much of a mess up?

He went down to the kitchen; Klaus hadn't eaten anything since early morning. He prepared a quick sandwich and rummaged the cookie jar, poured a glass of juice. Mom caught him just as he was about to leave, but her surprised eyes took just a moment to soften.

"Still hungry, sweetie? Sure. Take it."

Ben pressed his lips and nodded, hurrying up back the stairs again. He crossed up with Diego, who merely sent him a gaze without asking questions as to why he went to Klaus' room rather than his own. He didn't hear any sound coming from the bathroom, but the door was still shut and the bedroom was empty.

He laid the food and the juice on the bedside table, trying to decide what to do while he waited. He knew Klaus wouldn't want him there now, but he had been avoided the entire morning and things just got worse and worse. He _wanted_ to help somehow, otherwise he would explode.

He decided to start by pulling Klaus' bedsheets and covers, tidying his unmade bed. As he lifted the mess of bedsheets though, he blinked at the pills he found underneath. Vanya hadn't seen them earlier today when she tried to grab all of them back, tucked beneath the folds of fabric. He picked them up, two, cupping them in his hand and biting his lip. Should he keep them? This whole thing escalated because of the pills; he hadn't even asked Klaus if he felt better after taking one or not. Should he keep them or give them back to Vanya?

Klaus opened the door of the bedroom. He looked exhausted, and his eyes were puffy and red again. Ben frowned at that sight, but he barely had much time to think of anything much when Klaus looked at his hand. He didn't even ask or say anything, just snatched the pills roughly away from him and shoved them in his mouth.

"Klaus!" he gasped, but Klaus screwed up his face and coughed, picking the glass of juice and pouring it down almost in one gulp. Ben was almost expecting him to look smug and victorious, but he really didn't. He coughed again, his eyes growing teary for the physical choking rather than the emotional one for once, and he rubbed his chest. "You shouldn't have taken two at once! How do you know-"

"You're right, I should've saved one for later," Klaus said instead, his voice roughed by the strain of swallowing the pills, sighing in exhaustion. "God, I'm so stupid."

"That's not what I mean," Ben tried while Klaus just passed around him and dropped himself on the unmade bed. "It can be bad for you, you don't know..."

Klaus sighed again, long and tired, and Ben let his own words trail off. He sat at the end of the bed, looking at Klaus with a pained expression. Klaus didn't see it, turning his face to the side at the plate with the sandwich and cookies. Ben heard the growl Klaus' stomach let out, finding the worried pinch it gave him turn into a twisted sense of relief; at least he had done something nice and right this time by bringing some food. Klaus leaned over his elbow and picked the plate, placing it on the bed and biting into the bread. He picked a cookie and extended it to Ben.

"What happened?" he asked instead, but Klaus waved his head.

"Not now, Ben."

He nodded. He picked the cookie and nibbled it slowly. He wasn't really hungry at all.

"I was worried," he said, his voice low. "Vanya was worried too."

"What was she doing there?"

"I don't know, really," Ben admitted. "I guess she wanted to help somehow. She felt guilty, I think."

"It wasn't her fault," Klaus said, biting another piece of the bread. "I'm just a bad person."

"Klaus," Ben said, but he just shrugged.

"It's true. I lied to her and I stole from her. That's what bad people do, always suffer bad consequences, all that." He sighed heavily. "I'll just stop being a problem, don't worry."

"You're not a problem, Klaus," Ben said at once, earning a tired chuckle that made his heart pinch. "You're_ not_ a problem, Klaus."

"I certainly have one, though. A big one. And it causes problems for others."

"No one says that." Ben said it with the best of intentions, but it sounded too condescending even to his ears. Klaus didn't seem to mind it, but Ben bit back his words. "You know what I mean. No one likes to see you struggle, Klaus. It's just hard to know how to help you, _really_ help you, because we don't know what it is like for you. We just know it's bad."

"I know." He fetched the glass of juice that had been left with just drops at the bottom. "I won't bother any of you tonight. I think it may actually be good I took two instead of one."

Ben's face was still heavy with a concerned frown while Klaus finished eating. He looked at his brother, finding himself wondering what it must feel like, how those pills might work. He didn't know if it was just him imagining or the fact that he had taken two at once, but Klaus' breathing had a different feel to it, still exhausted, but lighter somehow, if that made sense.

"You can't steal from Vanya again."

Klaus waved his head sharply. "I won't. I won't do that ever again."

"What are you gonna do, then?" Ben asked him.

"I'll just find something else that works," Klaus replied. "Dad has loads of drinks, doesn't he."

"Stealing from Dad isn't a better solution," Ben said in worry, but Klaus shrugged.

"He won't notice. He doesn't have problems to drown. If he does find out, he'll just have himself to blame, and we both know he doesn't think he's to blame for anything."

.

Reginald

.

Number Four hadn't stumbled out of the room. He was _pushed_ out.

Before that happened, Reginald had seen a bright flash and felt a painful impact against his jaw. It had been very quick and disorienting, but when he regained his posture, he saw Number Four being pushed.

Reginald saw it, because he_ saw_ a man pushing him out.

It was brief, and if it were solely for his own experience, even he might rule it as an uncontrolled lash out, or even Number Seven's powers showing, but it wasn't; not when he could_ see_ the man who had punched him.

It had been clear since his early years what Number Four's powers were. An useful set for virtually any crime investigation; Number Four could solve cases by simply talking to the victims, and being the team force that they were, frivelous paperwork and bureaucracies from society's legal systems didn't necessarily need to apply to them. They could take down criminals with certainity when all that legal system failed.

The spirits in this house might be particularly vengeful, but that did not mean they were more than they had become: spirits, ghosts. They could not interact with the living world for all their best efforts, hence why Number Four's irrational fear of them was particularly nerve-wracking and idiotic.

And now he had managed to physically conjure a ghost not once, but three times. Because Reginald didn't just get knocked in the jaw or saw Number Four get pulled up from the floor and pushed by a man, he also saw the image of the other brother standing right beside him. Reginald _heard_ him, a surprised gasp at what he too had witnessed.

It was quick. In a flash, they were gone, mere confusing shadows cast by a beam of light, but Reginald knew what he had seen. He definitely knew what he had felt, and if any doubts were left, he had the physical mark of in the corner of his upper lip.

All the Numbers were undergoing that insuffrable growth stage of adolescence. If it affected regular human beings so intensively and extensively, it wasn't inconceivable that it would affect the Numbers' abilities in equally intense and unexpected ways. Number Four's increasing resistence to training was, in itself, a proof of that.

And now he_ physically _conjured a spirit into the living world. He channeled a soul into something clear, visible and tangible, that interacted with both of them.

"Sir," Pogo spoke lowly as Reginald retold the outcome of the training and quickly noted down everything on his notebook. Grace tried to finish her treatment, struggling to not bother him as he wrote and moved. "Master Klaus has been under an immense amount of stress. Surely this was caused by it."

"Very likely, Pogo, very likely."

"My point, sir, is that Master Klaus is just entering puberty."

"I just said so. May be a trigger, too."

"His powers take a great toll on him, and his mental health. Last night was a clear example. It will reflect in his physical health, too, surely."

"Your point?"

"Perhaps he should be granted more leniency. He-"

"Nonsense," Reginald cut short. "If anything, his behavior shows he's far too immature yet."

"Then perhaps that is also a sign, sir. If his potential is there, it will surely manifest in its due time naturally. Pushing it will not prove the best results and just add further stress to him."

Reginald halted his pen, looking up at Pogo, who stood calm and ever loyal. He brushed off Grace when she attempted to assess the cut on his lip.

"Perhaps," he mused, returning to his notebook the next instant. "Still, it's more of a result than having him behave like a spoiled child."

Grace and Pogo stood there with their heads bowed slightly, a silent exchange dying in their eyes.

Reginald didn't really notice it, or would have deemed it worthy of attention. His mind was raging with the raw potential that boy had in him, and how frustrating it was to be so constantly hindered in exploring it. There would be ways, certainly. There were too many possibilities to explore.

Maybe he should have numbered him higher.

.

the end

.

* * *

.

Author's Note: So, more stuff about this fic:

The reason why I wrote this whole thing was because I couldn't think of a good (or bad) enough punishment to describe on "The Seven Ways People See You" chapter 5. Basically, I can only thank my colleague for this. It was also intentionally ironic that this situation both gave the hint to Reginald that Klaus' powers held more possibilities than he thought, but also triggered his fall into drug and alcohol abuse.

Little trivia: the times and dates of the chapters (1:33AM, 7:00AM, 6:10PM, 1 1 January (1) 2 00 2) all sum or read 7. Except of course the date 12 January 2002 which *ahem* kind of ruins the trivia but hey, exception to the rule.

Although in the show the ranking system seems to be in order of purchase, I read that in the comics Reginald named the kids by power relevence, so I made a little nod to that here.

Also, I wrote Klaus' part to a really great but very tormented and disturbing song. It was just perfect for the scene and made my basic words feel enough because I was -hearing- a very appropriate atmosphere, but without it, I'm not so certain it's as dreadful as I hope it is, I'd actually like to know if the part is good enough without the song as backdrop, to be honest, so feedback on that is appreciated. On the whole thing, of course.

This took why longer than I antecipated. Thanks to everyone who read it, really, and best regards. Keep going on.


End file.
